NATURAL HISTORY. 



grass-eaters for instance, the Ox or Hippopotamus is quite " baggy," having between it and the flesh 

 of the beast a layer of the loosest possible fibres. It is for this reason that the skin of any but a very 

 fat Dog can be pinched up so readily, while of a Herbivore it may be said, in the words of eulogy uttered 

 by MrSqueers of his son Wackford, " Here's firmness, here's solidness ! why you can hardly get up 

 enough of him between your fingers and thumb to pinch him anywheres." In consequence of this the 

 operation of skinning a Lion or Bear is a comparatively easy one. After the first cut the beast may be 

 pulled out of his skin, almost without further use of the knife ; while with an Antelope or an Ox the 

 skin has to be cut away carefully and laboriously from the underlying flesh. 



The use of this loose skin will be very evident to any one who will take the trouble to watch 

 the great Cats playing together at the Zoological Gardens. They are continually scratching one 

 another, but the loose skin is dragged round by the claws which, in consequence, can get no hold, 

 and do no harm ; with a tight skin, on the other hand, the slightest scratch of such a claw as a Tiger's 

 would cause a serious wound. The looseness of the skin is very evident in the Puma and Jaguar, in 

 which it hangs in a fold along the middle of the belly, like a great dewlap. 



In the Carnivora the skeleton, or bony framework of the body, attains its utmost perfection, both 

 as a tissue and as machinery. Its tissue is dense, white, and ivory-like, every bone is exquisitely 

 moulded and polished, so that there are few more beautiful objects of study than a well-prepared Cat's 

 skeleton, and almost none more instructive or better calculated to give an idea of the perfection of 

 " animal mechanics." The flexibility and strength of the spine, the exquisite fitting of its joints, the 



small head capable of being turned in 

 almost any direction in the search for 

 prey or the avoidance of danger, the 

 wonderful arrangement of levers afforded 

 by the limbs, which exhibit at once the 

 greatest amount of strength and the 

 greatest amount of elasticity, all combine 

 to fill the mind with wonder and admira- 

 tion, as great as that excited by the most 

 perfect work of art or the most stupendous 

 phenomenon of inanimate nature. 



The skull of nearly all Carnivora is 

 distinguished from that of most other 

 Mammals by its immense strength, and 

 its evident adaptation to the habits of its 

 possessor to the effective seizing and 

 devouring of living prey. It is remark- 

 able for the immense roughened bony 



idges, developed in many parts of it, which serve for the attachment of the mighty jaw-muscles, 

 the great size of which causes an increase in the width of the bony jugal arch extending from 

 under the eye to just in front of the ear. Another point worthy of notice is the great shortening 

 of the jaws, or of the facial in relation to the cranial portions of the skull. In this respect 

 mvores, especially the most typical forms, the Cats, are very markedly distinguished from 

 Herbivores, in which the brain-case is small and the face immensely prolonged. This has to do 

 with the different kind of food used by the two groups that of vegetable-eaters requiring long 

 img, that of flesh-eaters powerful mincing. Connected also with this same function of masti- 

 the form of the condyk, or bony projection of the lower jaw, by which it moves on 

 ill, and of the smooth surface of the latter which receives it. These are in Carnivora greatly 

 ited transversely, and narrowed from before backwards, so that no motion from side to side, but 

 1-down motion, is possible. The higher Carnivora, therefore, cannot chew or grind thei" 

 nlyjmnce it, their sharp teeth acting exactly like scissor-blades. In the interior of the skull 

 ad a arge plate of bone which extends inwards and separates the great brain, or 

 cerebrum, from the lesser brain, or cerebellum, and prevents the jarring of that important organ 

 likely to arise from the animal's vigorous movements 



Ul'PEU VIEW OF MON'S SKUI.L. 



