1909-1910-] 'The Cormnon Cat. 211 



trate then placed a cageful of cats on a bonfire as an oblation 

 to Satan. This custom did not come to an end until the 

 middle of the eighteenth century. An edict was issued in 

 1618 in Flanders to prohibit the annual throwing of cats 

 from the high tower of Ypres on the second Wednesday in 

 Lent. In the seventeenth century in France a murderess, 

 who was a reputed witch, was burnt over a slow fire in a cage 

 with fourteen cats. 



Anatomical Peculiarities. — The entire skeleton of this animal 

 is adapted to combine strength with extreme agility. Fully 

 500 separate muscles control the working of the various parts. 

 The cat and all animals of this group have well -developed 

 retractile claws. The mechanism of each is remarkably 

 beautiful. Ordinarily the claw is kept back out of harm's 

 way by means of an elastic band. When, however, the 

 animal wishes to seize anything, a flexor tendon, actuated by 

 a powerful muscle high up in the limb, immediately causes 

 the claw to be projected forwards. On inhibiting this 

 muscular effort the claw again takes up the position of rest. 

 The noiseless tread of the cat is well known. In cases of 

 extreme debility, however, its footsteps become audible, 

 because the elastic ligaments lose their power to keep the 

 claws back, and thus they strike tiie ground at each step. 

 All animals of this family have five toes on the front feet and 

 four on the hind. The skull is rounded, short, and broad ; 

 the eye-sockets are large and incomplete. The teeth are 

 thirty in number, as contrasted with forty-two in the dog. 

 There are on each side three tiny pearl -like incisors; one 

 long-pointed canine with a cutting edge ; two premolar teeth 

 above and three below, all with several cusps, and sharp- 

 edged, so as to enable them to tear off pieces of flesh. The 

 single molar is usually so small as to be functionally useless. 

 The vertebral column is a marvel of strength, combined with 

 delicacy of structure. The neck consists of seven separate 

 vertebrae. This number is almost constant in mammals; 

 thus the giraffe has but seven, and so has the whale. There 

 are thirteen dorsal vertebrae, each with a pair of ribs attached. 

 Seven vertebrae go to form the lumbar part of the backbone, 

 and three are fused together to form the sacrum. The tail 

 consists of about twenty separate bones. The cat is an 



