26 THE CAT 



and hold it firmly; then posterior come the 

 premolars three in the upper jaw and two in 

 the lower jaw of each side ; and behind these 

 the molars one in each jaw. In the tempo- 

 rary or milk dentition of kittens the molars are 

 absent, leaving but twenty-six teeth. These, it 

 will be seen (Figure 4), have enormous strong 

 roots set in the jaw-bone, while the points are 

 sharp and cutting; which allows of the man- 

 gling of any solid food which may be taken, 

 while it does not permit of grinding it, as is 

 necessary in the herbivorous animals, or even, 

 to a certain extent, in the omnivorous animals. 

 The cat, like the dog, after having once grasped 

 its food, tears it to a certain degree, and then 

 swallows it whole, when its powerful stomach 

 and organs of digestion allow of the rapid dis- 

 integration of what it may have swallowed. 



The muzzle of the cat is soft, with long coarse 

 hairs, ordinarily called the "whiskers" (riltrix- 

 sce), which are really organs of touch. These, 

 like the hairs on the end of a horse's muzzle, 

 or those pf most of the domestic animals, are 

 deeply imbedded in the skin, touching at their 

 roots sensory nerves, which indicate to the ani- 



