THE CAT'S PLACE IN NATURE. 



the skull is rounded and broad across the 

 orbits, or eye-sockets (the latter are, with two 

 exceptions, open or incomplete behind) ; the 

 clavicle, or collar-bone, is reduced to a short, 

 curved, splint-like bone ; in many species it 

 is absent. 



The stomach is always simple, intestines 

 relatively short, tongue covered with minute 

 spines. In many species the pupil of the eye 

 contracts in one direction only, thus giving it 

 a linear and upright form. The majority of 

 the species are nocturnal ; the habits of the 

 genus are very diverse. The lion apparently 

 prefers the drier, sandy areas covered with 

 short, scrubby vegetation ; others prefer the 

 dense forests, and live much in the trees. 

 Many species are found at considerable alti- 

 tudes, the snow leopard being found at 18,000 

 feet. All the members of the group can swim, 

 and several species (i.e. the fishing cat of 

 India and Southern China) are adepts at catch- 

 ing fish, but immersion is invariably avoided. 



The colours of the different members of the 

 genus Felis vary considerably. It may be a 

 uniform, tawny, pale brown, or a grey as in 

 the lion, puma, eyra. The tiger is striped 

 transversely ; the ocelot has bands or rows of 

 more or less fused spots ; the serval and several 

 other species have solid black spots ; the 

 leopard, clusters of spots, forming a kind of 

 star ; the jaguar has the spots arranged in an 

 open ring. In the clouded leopard of Southern 

 India the markings are composed of irregular 

 groups of lines and spots, merging into the 

 ground colour of the animal's coat. A black 

 variety of the common leopard is occasionally 

 found in a wild state. Albinos, or white forms, 

 are extremely rare in nature, though quite 

 common in the domesticated cat. 



GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE CAT. 



The natural food of all the cat tribe in a 

 state of nature is carnivorous, and the whole 

 organisation of the group is specialised and 

 adapted for aggressive or, if need be, defensive 

 purposes. The body is compressed laterally, 



The bony framework or skeleton is light, 

 and, for the purpose of an elementary descrip- 

 tion, is readily divisible into three parts 

 viz. (i) the skull ; (2) the axial skeleton, com- 

 prising the bones of the neck, thorax, loins, 

 and tail ; (3) the appendicular skeleton or 

 limbs. The skull is short, rounded, and broad 

 across the orbits or eye-sockets, which are 

 large in proportion to the skull. The pos- 

 terior rim-of the orbit is, with three exceptions, 

 out of the fifty-one species viz. the fishing- 

 cat (F. voverrina), the rusty spotted cat (F . 

 rubiginosa), and the flat-headed cat (F. 

 planiceps) incomplete or open. The teeth 

 of the fully adult cat should be thirty in 

 number sixteen in the upper jaw and four- 

 teen in the lower. They are, divided by the 

 comparative anatomist into three sets or 

 groups viz. incisors, canines, premolars, and 

 molars their number and position being con- 

 cisely expressed by a dental formula thus : 

 I 'i C. 1, PM. f, M. T. The six incisors in 

 the upper and lower jaw are small, simple- 

 pointed teeth, with a simple fang or root. 

 Then we have a long canine or flesh tooth C C '. 

 the most important functional tooth the cat 



FIG. II. SKULL OF THE GREAT SABRE-TOOTHED CAT. 

 FROM THE CAVES OF BRAZIL. (Macliarodtts Neogoeus.) 



has, for with it and its fellow the living, 



and has a considerable amount of flexibility struggling prey is seized, retained, and killed, 

 in it as a whole. I n the upper jaw, immediately after the 



