Studies in the art anatomy of animals; being a brief analysis of the visible forms of the more familiar mammals and birds designed for the use of ... illustrators, naturalists, and taxidermists

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ...The whole skeleton is more elastic and better jointed, although the rest of the bones are similar to those of the Dog. The Cat has also more and better developed muscles. Thus, in the fore-leg the supinator longus is far from being rudimentary; in the hind-leg it has the soleus; and according to Mivart, it has on the breast a second sternalis. The shoulder has so much play that the scapula may touch the jaw, or slide back as far as the eighth or tenth rib; while the muscles regulating these movements are greatly developed, endowing the Cat with remarkable power for climbing and for striking blows. But these differences, it will be seen, are secondary matters, and would not impair the truth of the broad statement, that in their Art Anatomy the Dog and the Cat are identical. An average female of the ordinary House Cat measured as follows:--Feet. Inches. Length of head..................... Length of neck from occiput to point of scapula Length of body from point of manubrium to point of ischium Total length from point of nose to point of ischium... Height at shoulder Length of tail... Males are, of course, larger and heavier, but the relative bone lengths are the same. The proportions are, as will be seen in the above:--Total length of head and body... equals 5 heads Height at shoulder equals half the total length................. „ i it Length of tail equals half the total length.................... „ i „ Length of body from manubrium to ischium..................... „ 3 „ The proportions of the limb bones will be found to agree exactly with those of the Lion indicated on Plate XXVII., although the relative length and height of the body are not the same. The Cat and its kind are thus too low and long to fill a square,...