986 General Notes. [September, — 
mammalian teeth, and it has also been observed that those at the 
posterior part of the series are larger, and have a bilobed form of 
crown, while those in front are simple and conical, a fact of con- 
siderable interest in connection with speculation as to the history 
of the group. It is not until after the disappearance of the teeth 
that the baleen, or whalebone, makes its appearance, which, as is 
well known, consists of a series of flattened, horny plates, several 
hundred in number, on each side of the palate, separated bya 
bare interval along the median line. This baleen Flower regards 
as nothing more than the highly modified papilla of the lining 
membrane of the mouth, with an excessive and horny epithelial 
development, as seen in the row of papillz on the free edges of — 
the laminz of the ridges of fibrovascular tissues in the palate of 
oxen and especially the giraffe. 
PSYCHOLOGY. 4 
REASONING Powers IN THE Cat.—My brother-in-law, Mr. 
Benjamin Hall, hada large emasculated cat which showed some 
characteristics which may be worthy of record Sy 
e was much attached to his master and followed him in his | 
walks about the fields after the manner of a deg. On one occa of 
sion he was thus conducted to a considerable distance from the — : 
house into the prairie, where a considerable number of the spotted — 
prairie gopher had colonized, invited, no doubt, by the favorable 
condition of the soil for their burrows. The cat soon api 
one of these, which he brought to his master, whose caresses and 
commendations seemed to be highly gratifying to him. The cat 
then made a breakfast of his capture. 
projected out over the bird. Slowly and cautiously he 
along the upper side of this limb till nearly over the 
he gave a spring, caught the bird in its flight, and 1 
ground and ran away with his prize. He had been often he 
for catching birds; so, as if conscious he had done wrong, ©” ~ 
