358 



BRANCH CHORDATA 



many of them are valuable for their fur. The cat and dog have 

 been domesticated. 



The Terrestrial Carnivora {Fissipe' dia) . — The number of 

 digits may be five on each foot, but is often reduced to four on 

 the hind feet, as in cats and dogs, and sometimes to four on the 

 front feet, as in Hyce' niche, but the reduced first toe may bear a 

 claw. 



The cat family {Fe'lidce) includes the hons, tigers, leopards or pan- 

 thers, jaguars, pumas, lynxes, wildcats, etc. They are widely distributed 

 in both the Old World and the New, but are absent in Australia. 

 They seem to have evolved in the Old World first, migrating to North 

 America at the close of the Pliocene, and from thence to South America. 

 The legs are relatively .short and the claws are retractile. The terminal 



Fig. 291. — Bones and ligaments of the toe of a cat, showing the claw re- 

 tracted {A) and protruded {B). 



joint bearing the claw (Fig. 291) folds back into a sheath by the outside 

 of or above the middle joint, and is held there by a strong ligament. This 

 is the natural position of the claw and prevents it from friction. When 

 wanted for aggression or defense it is pulled into position by the flexor 

 muscles bearing the claw. 



The raccoons (Proci/on'idce), placed by some with the bear family, are 

 plantigrade and omnivorous, eating anything in the way of fish, oyster, 

 crayfish, flesh or fowl, and green vegetables especially corn. They have 

 the peculiar habit of washing their food. They are nocturnal. The limbs 

 are long and the soles of the f(>ot naked. "The raccoon is at home in the 

 timbered regions of the southern and eastern United States whore there are 

 swamps," for it loves to play and to fish in the water. It has long active 

 fingers, and uses its hands as clovcrly as a monkey. It makes its home in 

 the hollow limb of a tree. The annual family of five or six yoimg follow the 

 mother about for a y(\\r. In .\ugust the "coons" are fat' and the flesh is 

 tender and juicy, and "coon hunting" is a great sport. The young are easily 



