4 TEE ROYAL TIGER OF BENGAL. 



with their elastic cushioned digitigrade feet, sharp 

 retractile claws, and powerful muscles which attain 

 their greatest development in the region of the jaw, 

 neck, shoulder and forearm, and the formidahle 

 fangs, all proclaim a predatory hlood-thirsty creature, 

 armed and fitted to wage war against and maintain 

 supremacy over other animals. ^ 



Before proceeding further with that which concerns 

 the natural history, it may be well to give a short 

 description of the modifications of the mammalian 

 structure, which peculiarly characterize the tiger 

 and fit him for his predatory life. These are cer- 

 tain points in connection with the structure of the 

 head, jaws and teeth — the muscular, osseous, and 

 digestive systems. 



The skull of the tiger is adapted for the insertion 

 and action of powerful muscles and teeth. The ten- 

 torium or septiim that separates the cerebrum from 

 the cerebellum, and which in man and many other 

 creatures is membranous, is bony in the felidse, pro- 

 bably for the purpose of increasing the strength of 

 the skull, and not, as has been suggested, for the 

 purpose of diminishing the shock of cerebrum against 

 cerebellum in the feline leaps and bounds ; for which 

 purposCj indeed, the elastic membranous tentorium 

 would answer better. The lower jaw is short and 

 strong, and is articulated to the skull by a hinge-like 

 joint, which restricts its movements nearly in a ver- 

 tical plane — ^that of opening and closing the mouth. 

 The coronoid process, which gives insertion to the 



