90 
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
heels of the majority of quadrupeds occupies in them 
a conspicuous station on the posterior part of their 
limbs, considerably above the tubercles at the base of 
the toes on which alone they tread. Their legs are 
short and muscular ; and their j oints rounded, supple, 
and in the highest degree flexible. 
In the general outline of their form the Cats exhibit 
a remarkable uniformity. They are all distinguished 
by the elongated, but not particularly slender, make of 
their bodies, which are much flattened on the sides ; by 
their short thick necks, taking for the most part a 
nearly horizontal direction ; and by the broad and 
rounded form of their heads, which are usually much 
larger in proportion in the males than in the females. 
Their hair is close, soft, generally smooth, and often 
beautifully sleek. Its colour is rarely uniform ; the far 
greater number of the species having a tendency to 
assume a striped or spotted livery, which frequently 
exhibits such rich and varied markings as to render 
their furs extremely valuable. The tips of the ears in 
some of the species, and the extremity of the tail in 
others, are surmounted by pencils or tufts of longer and 
differently coloured hairs ; but these are wanting in 
the majority. Their moustaches are generally of great 
length, and composed of numerous bristles, which ap- 
pear to be of considerable use to these animals, the 
sense of feeling being concentrated in them, or rather 
in the nerves which communicate with them, in a 
remarkable degree. The removal of these appendages 
is consequently observed to produce, for a time at least, 
no little embarrassment. The tails of the different 
species vary greatly in proportionate length ; they are, 
however, always cylindrical, and covered uniformly with 
hair of the same kind as that which invests the body. 
In intellectual character these animals occupy a very 
