Family III. Felidæ.
(Cats.)
The Cats are the most eminently carnivorous of Mammalia. The body is light and agile; the spine is flexible; the limbs muscular but capable of free, rapid, and energetic motion; the toes armed with strongly curved and pointed talons, whose acuteness is preserved by a curious structure; the short and rounded skull is beset with bony projections for the attachment of powerful muscles; the jaws, short, and of great strength, are furnished with few teeth, but of the most trenchant and formidable character, the motive power of which is confined to a vertical, cutting action; and the tongue is covered, particularly at its anterior portion, with numerous horny points (papillæ) directed backwards in close array, which enable the animal to rasp off, as it were, portions of the flesh on which it is feeding, and to expose fresh series of blood-vessels, as well as to scrape off all particles of muscle from the bones.
The mechanism by which the points of the claws are preserved from injury is beautifully effective.
a. Toe of Lion, with the claw extended.
b, c. The same, without the skin, retracted and extended.
Every one is aware, who has handled the velvet paw of a cat, that in its ordinary condition the talons are quite concealed, but that in excitement they are forcibly thrown forward. The last joint of each toe, the tip of which is encased by the claw, is, in rest, drawn back either upon, or at the side of, the preceding joint, by the force of two elastic ligaments. From this position it is in an instant extended by the contraction of a muscle beneath the toe, the tendon of which passes under the head of the last joint, as under a pulley, and is attached to the base of the claws. When the contraction ceases, the claw again springs back to its place, and lies concealed in a deep fold of the skin.
The noiseless step of the cat, by which it is enabled to steal unperceived on its victim, is no doubt owing in part to the retractation of the claws; but this is much aided by the spongy pads which are seen beneath the toes. These serve also by their elasticity to break the shock which other- wise would accrue to the nervous system in those vigorous bounds with which the Kelide ordinarily spring upon their unsuspecting prey.
In conformity with all these indications, the natural food of the Felidæ is exclusively animal; the warm and quivering flesh, and gushing blood of creatures struck down and slain by sudden violence. The herbivorous Mammata constitute the chief supply of the larger species; which do not, however, hunt or pursue the prey, as the Canidæ do, nor associate in packs, but lie in wait, at the spots to which the unthinking animals are known to resort, as the ponds and river margins in tropical countries, whence they pounce upon them with an irresistible force, and with one stroke of the fore paw fell them to the ground. The smaller species prey extensively on birds, small monkeys, and rodentia, and are expert and agile climbers of trees.
The Family is spread over the whole globe, with the exception of Australia and the Arctic Re gions; in the hotter parts of the world, the species are very numerous, and many of them attain great size and power. The Lion, the Tiger, and the Jaguar are the most formidable of the bestial enemies of man.
Genus Felis. (Linn.)
As the large Family before us contains but one satisfactorily established genus, its distinctive characters are those already enumerated. ‘The dental system is thus expressed:—inc. 66; can. 1—11—1; mol. 4—43—3=30.
Though the great Cats of the tropics, as the Lions, the Tigers, and the Leopards, afford many points of interest, and though from their size, power, and ferocity, and the beauty of many of them, their history is always attractive, we pur- pose, in conformity with our design to illustrate this work as much as possible by species indigenous to or naturalized in the British Islands, to select the common domestic Cat, as the example of this the most typical group of carnivorous quadrupeds.
There is a species of wild Cat (Felis catus, Linn.) common in the forests of Europe, and still found in some numbers in the northern parts of this country, of formidable strength and ferocity ; and for a long time, our common Cat was believed to be this species in domestication. For many important reasons this opinion has been relinquished by modern naturalists, and the origin of this favourite animal has been sought elsewhere. It is an interesting fact, that, ata very early period, a domestic Cat was in the possession of the Egyptians, and, from their paintings and sculptures, we learn that they trained it to assist in fowling among the papyrus reeds of the river margins. There is a Cat found wild in Nubia, which agrees in many particulars with these representations, with the mummies of Egyptian Cats, and with our domestic species; and hence many zoologists incline to consider this Nubian Cat (Felis maniculata, Temm.) as the original of the tame breeds. It is worth remarking, however, that the cats of the Egyptian pictures, in their robust form, short ears, and short legs, as well as in their decidedly brindled or tabby pattern of colouring, agree better with our own common breeds than with the maniculata;
EGYPTIAN FOWLING-SCENE.
as may be seen by a reference to an original painting of a fowling scene in the Egyptian Saloon of the British Museum, a copy of which we here present.
On such a subject we would give any judgment of our own with much deterence but it has long been our opinion that many animals were created in the condition which we call domestication, and were originally given by God to man, as his humble companions and assistants. If this was so, the absence of wild types of nearly all our domestic animals, is perfectly accountable, for they had no existence; and though in some cases, as in the Wild Ass, there are numerous wild individuals of apparently a domestic species, it seems to us not extravagant to consider them as having become accidentally emancipated from their original condition of servitude. And this may perhaps receive some confirmation from a very ancient notice of the animal just named. In the sublime reproof of Job, by the Lord out of the whirlwind, He asks, "Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosened the bands of the wild ass?"[1] We would then, in reference to the animal under consideration, suggest the probability that the F. maniculata is descended from the Egyptian domestic Cat, instead of being its original, and that its gaunt form is the natural result of its precarious mode of living in the deserts of Nubia. Our species we should regard as of the same lineage, but transmitted in that state of dependence in which it was originally possessed.
The chief utility of the Cat to man, is its habit of preying upon the rats and mice which infest our dwellings. A good mouser will follow up the pursuit of these pests, with a sort of professional gusto, quite independent of the promptings of hunger, watching at their holes with untiring pertinacity, and having pounced upon her prey, will often bring it and lay it down at the feet of some one whose affection she values, with a little cry of complacency. It is, however, very frequently kept as a pet, and loved for its own sake, though there may be no mice to be destroyed. The Cat's susceptibility of kindly affections has been
DOMESTIC CAT.
much underrated. Instances occur continually of Cats willingly accompanying a family removing their residence, and becoming at home at once, without manifesting any desire to return to the former dwelling; plainly evincing that the love of persons in such cases is stronger than that of places. It is recorded that when the Earl of Southampton was committed to the Tower for high treason in the reign of Elizabeth, a favourite Cat found her way into her loved master’s society, by descending the chimney of his prison.
In the family of a friend of ours, one of the children had a kitten given him, when quite an infant. It soon became his pet, and he was accustomed to fondle it continually, delighting to hie down on the hearthrug, and roll about with the Cat in his embrace. As it grew up, the animal manifested a very spiteful disposition to every member of the family, except Johnny its little patron; to such a degree, that, if the lady of the house but touched it accidentally with her foot in the slightest way, it would instantly snarl like an angry dog, and snap at her. To Johnny, however, it was always affectionate, seeking and delighting in his society. One day, when about six years old, he was playing on the floor with a brother a little older, and in the height of his romps screamed out; the Cat, who had appeared perfectly inattentive to their game, on hearing her favourite’s scream, suddenly flew at the brother with the utmost virulence, and would doubtless have done what mischief she could, had not Johnny come to the rescue, by whom she suffered herself to be removed.
Mr. Jesse, among many interesting anecdotes of animals, in his « Gleanings in Natural History,” records the following instance of faithful zeal in a Cat. ‘Cats have been known also to do their best to protect the property of their masters, as well as dogs. A man who was sentenced to transportation for a robbery, informed me, after his conviction, that he and two others broke into the house of a gentleman near Hampton Court. While they were in the act of plundering it, a large black Cat flew at one of the robbers, and fixed her claws on each side of his face. He added, that he never saw any man so much frightened in his life? [2]
We know not whether we should attribute to the force of personal or local attachment, the incident recorded in the following anecdote, by the same amiable author, which, marvellous as it is, he assures us, needs not be doubted. "A lady, residing at Glasgow, had a handsome Cat sent to her from Edinburgh; it was conveyed to her in a close basket, and in a carriage. The animal was carefully watched for two months; but, having produced a pair of young ones at the end of that time, she was left to her own discretion, which she very soon employed in disappearing with both her kittens. The lady at Glasgow wrote to her friend at Edinburgh, deploring her loss; and the Cat was supposed to have formed some new attachment. About a fortnight, however, after her disappearance from Glasgow, her well-known mew was heard at the street-door of her Edinburgh mistress, and there she was with both her kittens; they in the best state, but she herself very thin. It is clear that she could only carry one kitten at a time. The distance from Glasgow to Edinburgh is forty-four miles, so that if she brought one kitten part of the way, and then went back for the other, and thus conveyed them alternately, she must have travelled one hundred and twenty miles, at least. She must also have journeyed only during the night, and must have resorted to many other precautions for the safety of her young."[3]
The Cat is an affectionate mother; so jealously careful of the comfort of her young, that she will remove and hide them, if they are too much handled, or even inspected, particularly by strangers. Yet she will often bring them in succession in her mouth, and present them to the persons with whom she is familiar, evidently desiring their sympathy with her admiration of them. The playfulness of kittens is excessive: and it is hardly possible to observe their innocent gambols without a feeling of complacent gratification.