THE CAT biden} 
when the jaws are closed. The Carnivores do not masticate 
their food, but either swallow it whole as a dog does, or 
tear it up into small pieces and then swallow it. Veget- 
able food is not so easily digested as fleshy food, hence 
plant-eaters are provided with broad molar teeth with 
which they grind up the food into small pieces in order to 
assist the process of digestion. In the case of flesh-eaters 
the gastric juice—the digestive juice of the stomach—is 
very powerful and is able to carry on the process of diges- 
tion with but little assistance from the teeth. It is for 
this reason that the 
lower jaw of the Cat. 
and the Dog can be 
moved only up and 
down—the side to 
side movement, being 
unnecessary, is pre- 
vented by the deep. 
transverse sockets in 
which the ends of 
the lower jaw work. 
The jaws them- 
Vi ell hhalg | 
V4 f ( 
Fig. 127.—Head of Cat, showing teeth. selves are short and 
powerful, with a wide 
gape, which allows the cutting teeth to be set back, and 
gives plenty of scope to the long curved canine teeth in the 
process of tearing flesh. 
The Tongue is long and rough, its upper surface 
being covered with curved horny spines projecting back- 
wards. These are used for stripping the flesh off the 
bones.. Contrast with the Dog’s tongue which is soft and 
smooth. 
Sense of Smell. The Cat’s sense of smell is small. 
If food be concealed by placing it under some loose 
