CAT (AS. catt, Ger. Kat;:e, Fr. chat, OF. cat, It. gatto, tip., Portng. gato, Welsh cath, Corn. oath, Ir., Gael. cat, OChurch Slay. koteli, Truss. catto, cat, Lat. catus, cub; borrowed in Finn. katti, Turk. qadi, Ar. quit. katas; of uncertain origin). The cats are typi cal teluroid carnivores, constituting the family Felidn, and well represented by the ubiquitous house-eat, which is considered at length below.
rats in general, as a family, are distinguished among carnivores by their uniformity. of struc ture, by the flexibility and strength of the spine, the small head, capable of being turned in any direction, the looseness of the skin, and the exceeding suppleness. quickness, and muscu larity, the last especially exhibited in the jaws and in the wonderful arrangement of levers in the limbs. These are correlated with their predatory habits, and manner of procuring their prey, which is by lying in wait, or by stealthy approach. followed by a spring, a clutch of the claws, and a crushing bite. All the anatomy, therefore, represents agility and power in the highest degree: and all cats except two or three of the heaviest (lion, tiger) are arboreal to a greater or less degree. The skull is remark able for the bony ridges which give attachment to the great jaw-muscles, the immense size of which causes a corresponding increase in the width of the zygomatic arches: and the facial portion, short in all earnivora as compared with herbivora, is here much shorter than in the dog or bear tribes, giving the characteristic round ness to the head. The lower jaw is strongly attached, and capable only of a simple hinge-like motion. The dentition consists of six small incisors in each jaw. large canines, and one per manent molar on each side, that in the upper jaw being small. the lower large and acting against the fully developed premolar in the upper. All are earnassial, for little 'grinding' of the food is called for; and the canines of some, as espe cially of the extinct sabre-toothed tiger, are for midable tusks. '(lie tongue is rough; the in testinal canal very short, being in some species only three times the length of the body. The
most striking and characteristic peculiarity of eat-structure, however (though imperfect in one genus—Cyrnelurus; see CI1EETA), is the arrange ment for the protrusion and retraction of the claws, by which they are made the principal instruments whereby these creatures get their living. Their plan, as has been said, is to get as near as possible to their animal prey, seize and hold it until they can overcome it by biting through the arteries of the neck (in the ease of large quadrupeds) or otherwise put it to death; they cannot chase it down and worry it to death after the manner of dogs. This re quires that their toes should be separated, flexi ble, and eapable of a. powerful grip, and their claws sharp and hooked. The acquirement of such tools has been accompanied by provision for keeping them out of the animal's way, in the ordinary use of its feet, and at the same time saving them from becoming blunted by contact with the ground, as happens to those of all other clawed animals, by a peculiar arrangement.
In the cats, the last (third) phalanx. or tip hone. of the toe, which carries the claw, does not touch the ground, but it is so modified as to turn up beneath a hood of skin ore z• the end of the bone (tieellnd phalanx) next behind it this it does naturally, when at rest, by virtue of the elasticity of a ligament which passes from it down to the second phalanx, and holds it in place without any conscious eft ort. From the lower (proximal ) end of this •law•bone a powerful Ilexor tendon runs back beneath the the toe to the leg-muscles, the contraction of which pulls the claw down with a circular motion which drives it and hooks it into the flesh, where it will tear loose before it will let go. Such is the mechanism of the action so familiar and effective in the cat whim she is angry and 'shows her clans.' fhe cheeta (q.v.) lacks this pmver, and correspondingly its predatory habits partake of much that characterizes dogs.