FELIS LEO. 37 



Besides these elastic ligaments, there is a tendinous one that is fixed 

 to the head of the second bone, and passes along the upper surface of it 

 to the third, and is fixed to the third at the articulation. The intention 

 of this seems to be, not to let this joint be too much bent : this is only 

 a continuation of the tendon of the ' extensor digitorum communis.' 

 The skin that covers the last phalanx is very loose; and where this 

 phalanx is drawn up or back, the skin covers a great deal of the root 

 of the claw, like the prepuce. 



All of this class of animals have the practice of sticking their claws 

 into wood, leather, or any such thing that will admit them : the inten- 

 tion of this seems to be to force off any splints or old external surface 

 of the claw, which becomes soft and irregular. They are all (as far as 

 I know) retromingent, and this has its gradations as much as the other 

 parts of this class of animals 1 . 



The Lion [Felis Leo, Linn.] -. 



The surface of the tongue is studded with small bodies, each very near 

 an eighth of an inch in length, ending in a point. These are longest, 

 and thicker in the middle, about an inch and a half from the anterior 

 end. On the side of every one of these next to the root of the tongue, 



the elastic ligaments in the fore- and hind-foot, in my preparations Nos. 287 A and 

 288 a, and the descriptions, p. 76, vol. i. of the ' Physiological Catalogue,' 4to. 1832.] 



1 [In the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1781, Forster records the following 

 remarks on the subdivision of the Felidse : — 



''■ The greater and more numerous the different genera of animals are, the more 

 difficult it must be to the natural historian properly to arrange the whole of such an 

 extensive division of animals, especially if they are not equally well known. To form 

 new genera, in order to dispose and arrange them under, is a remedy which increases 

 the evil, instead of curing it. The best method, therefore, which can be devised is 

 to make great divisions in each genus comprehending those species which, on account 

 of some common relation or character, have a greater affinity to one another. The 

 genus of cat, to which the animal belongs we are going to speak of more at large, 

 offers three very easy and natural subdivisions. The first comprehends animals 

 related to the cat-tribe, with long hair or manes on their necks ; secondly, such as 

 have remarkably long tails without any marks of a mane on their necks ; lastly, such 

 as have a brush of hair on the tips of their ears, and shorter tails than the second 

 subdivision. The first might be called in Latin Feles jubatce ; the second sub- 

 division should be named JElures ; and the third and last, Lynces. To the first sub- 

 division the Lion and the hunting Leopard or Indian Chittah belong. The second 

 subdivision consists of the Tiger, the Panther, the Leopard, the Ounce, the Puma, 

 the Jaguar, &c, the Jaguera, the Ocelot, the Gingy of Congo, the Marakaya, the 

 Tiger -Cat of the Cape, or the Nsussi of Congo, the Tibetan Tiger -Cat, which I saw 

 at Petersburgh, the common Bush-Cat of the Cape, and lastly, the wild Cat and its 

 domestic varieties. To the third division belong the Lynx, the Caracal, the 'Serval, 

 the Bay Lynx, and the Ghaus of Professor Gueldenstedt."] 



2 [The skeleton of the Hon is No. 4475, Osteol. Series : it is followed by several 

 other Hunterian specimens of the osteology and dentition of the species.] 



