ANATOMY 29 



five. Each pad consists of a mass of fibrous 

 tissue and fat, and a large triobed one is 

 placed beneath the ends of those bones on 

 which the animal rests in walking, as repre- 

 sented in the figure here given. 



One essential character of the anatomy of 

 the entire cat tribe consists in the arrangement 

 of the claws at the end of each toe. While the 

 nails of the fingers and toes of man and of the 

 toes of the elephant, the hoofs on the extremity 

 of the legs of the horse, cattle, and such, ani- 

 mals, are fixed and practically immovable, and 

 while these same appendages in the claws 

 of the dog and many other animals are fixed, 

 while slightly movable in the softer tissues 

 which imbed them, in the feline species they 

 are excessively movable. In the cat tribe there 

 is in the soft tissue which covers the third pha- 

 lanx, or the last joint of the toes, a pocket or 

 socket which holds the claw. Under ordinary 

 circumstances, and when the animal is at rest, 

 the claw is drawn back into the socket, and 

 held imbedded there by an elastic ligament, 

 as will be seen in the upper illustration of 

 Figure 7. When, however, an animal of the cat 



