THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2409, 3 May 1900, Page 64

THE NATURALIST.

She Eoot of the Hepuaut. The tinfortunate occurrence of the death

of the elephant known as Charlie, at the Crystal Palace, has afforded an opportunity for the further investigation of a rery singular structure which exists in the foot of that gigantic species. Through the kindness of my friend Mr Stewart, the curator of the College of Surgeons, I have had the opportunity of examining this lemarkable structure, which consists of a combination of yel- ' low elastic "fibres with the ordinary contrac- . tile muscular tissue in one of the muscles -of the foot. The existence of permanently contracts elastic tendons not connected with muscle, and acting irrespective of the will of the ani- , mal, is well known. Its effect may be ob- ; served in the singular position of the head J of a dead sheep as seen when the animal is | suspended after having been slaughtered. In quadrupeds with long necks it is obviotis that, were it not for the existence of these elastic yellow fibres, which are familiar to f all persons as seen in a cooked neck of multon, the muscular power required to keep the head supported at the extremity of the horizontal neck would be very great ; but, owing to their assistance the head is held up, as it were, by a spring, These fibres contract involuntarily, and, as before, remaiked, their action after death causes the head to assume a very different position from that which would'otherwise be the case. The head of a dead sheep does not hang perpendioularly, tout, as all persons know, is pulled upwards towards the spine. The muscles that flex the fore foot of the elephant are interspersed with this elastic tissue, so that instead of offering, when cut across, the spectacle of a mass of ordinary flesh or muscular I fibre, some of them manifest a very large ! proportion of these yellow fibres in the flesh, i and theiv action during life would be to keep th-3 muscles contracted and tense irrespective of the -will ot the animal. The most important of the muscles which is so constituted is that which bends the fore foot upon the leg, and causes the hoof?, as it were, to press upon the ground. The muscle in which this structure is most strongly marked corresponds to that which bends our hand upon j the forearm. It is known to anatomists as the flexor carpi radialis. In the elephant the tendon from this muscle passes underneath I the foot, and holds, as it were, the foot upon the ground, the' front part being kept firmly fixed without any effort on the part of the animal. This remarkable structure is apparently unique, although it is possible it may exist in the rhinoceros or ether lmge pachyderms. It is correlated to the extraordinary weight of the animal and to its habit of rarely lying i down. It sleeps standing, and it stands without an effort, an explanation of the apparently impossible statement made by Emerson Tennant that an elephant, when at rest, has, been slain by a single bullet in the brain, and remained standing in an erect position. — W. B. Tcgetmeier, in the Field. A Cat That Meeps Between Fowls. Mr Harrison Weir, whose book on cats all cat-lovers ought to read, contributes to this study of cats the following episode :— • "A curious incident occurred in my poultry yard in the middle of 1898. I kept old English farm fowls only, and though a hen with a family will kill rats, yet when these are hid in the henhouses they are unnoticed. At the beginning of 1898 I found that besides j the fowls I was 'keeping rats, big and little, in considerable number?. One day my man oame in, and asked might he have a couple ' of hours, as he wanted to borrow a pistol to ahool a strange cat that was living amonc

the fowls. 'What for?' I inquired. 'Oh,' he replied, 'it is savage, and flies at me when Igo into the houses.' 'Has it killed any of the fov/ls?' I asked. 'Oh, no,' he said. 'Then it is ofler the rats,' I rejoined; 'leave it alone, ifc will do good.' "In a fortnight or so the cat, which always retired to a hole under one of the' houses, came out with two kittens, but all were exceedingly wild. Three weelcs* after this it went off into the woods, taking one of the kittens, and_ leaving the other, a beautiful tabby ; but it was such a timid creatura that we co-aid never approach it, as it invariably took shelter down the larger rat-holes, the old oat mother only leaving after killing off all the ra>ts. Finding the kitten was starving, food was placed for it down one of the holes, which it took, though seldom was it seen. Growing older, it would- sit on the perches of a night, between the fowls, with which it was most friendly. When they walked about it went with them, rubbing itself about the legs and body of my old Crystal Palace firstprize bird as if it were another cat. All the year it has been with the poultry, but it is still so timid and wild that it will allow no one to approach it but my daughter, and this only to feed it. - "As for myself and others, I never get a chance of seeing ifc but at a distance, or walking about with the old game cock and his hens, with which it seems to be on the most intimate terms. It is very handsome, but it will not even- now allow my daughter to stroke it."— The Girl's Realm.