40 WILD ANIMALS. 



ancients, who do not seem to have been particular in their choice 

 of medicines. 



A small prickle is occasionally found on the extreme tip of the 

 lion's tail, and some hunters have maintained that the animal uses 

 it to increase his rage by lashing it against his sides. This is 

 only a theory, however, for it is not to be found in all lions, 

 neither does this peculiar structure occur in any other of the Felidce 

 except the puma. The reason that all cats crouch and lash their 

 tails before springing is due to the necessities of their muscular 

 construction. The muscles of these animals are extraordinarily 

 powerful and massive, especially those used for progression and 

 propulsion. Some of the muscles of the thighs are employed to 

 extend the legs, others to flex .them, and others have a rotary 

 action. Professor Houghton,^ who dissected an adult lion, found 

 the combined weight of the extensor muscles to be nearly 91 

 ounces; of the flexors, 29 ounces; and the rotators of the thigh, 

 61 ounces; and he shows that the animal, when crouching on its 

 haunches, with its feet somewhat apart, makes all these muscles 

 available to assist its spring, which is further aided by the pro- 

 pulsion of the haunches upwards, and it is propelled forward by 

 the combined action of all the muscles of both legs. It therefore 

 follows that the bound will be governed by the amount of 

 extension, hence the advantage of the low crouched-up position; 

 and as there is an intimate relation between these muscles and 

 the vertebrae of the tail, they are tightened by the vibratory 

 undulating motion of that appendage before making a bound. 



The muscles that govern the movement of the lion's jaw .are 

 also peculiar. Besides being exceptionally, strong, they are so 

 arranged that they not only close the mouth, but force the 

 condyles of the lower jaw backwards into their sockets. This 

 pressure gives these animals the power of carrying their prey the 

 long distances they are in the habit of doing before eating it; for 

 if some special provision was not made, the strain of the weight 

 of, say, a dead ox, would inevitably produce dislocation of the 

 jaw. 



? " Koyal Irish. Academy Proceedings," vol. ix. 



