The skin of the cat consists of the usual two layers, the outer epidermis and the inner fibrous corium. The skin is particularly thick and tough about the sides of the neck and face.
The skin is covered almost completely with fine soft hairs. Only the end of the nose, the pads on the soles of the feet, and the nipples are without hair. A number of long stiff sensory hairs (vibrissæ) are found on the upper lip, the cheek, and above the upper eyelid.
The pads on the soles of the feet are cushion-like projections of skin, composed largely of connective and elastic tissue and fat. There is one large pad for each foot, and in addition a small pad for each digit. The fore limb has besides a small conical pad which is situated almost exactly over the pisiform bone.
The nails are horny outgrowths of the epidermis, covering the distal phalanges.
The muscles of the skin are the cutaneus maximus and platysma; these have been described ([page 93]). The superficial facial muscles are differentiations of the skin-muscles.
APPENDIX.
PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS.
The following appendix on the dissection and study of the cat is not intended as a general treatise on methods of preservation and dissection, but attempts only to give the application of well-known methods to the dissection and study of the particular animal with which the book deals. General methods which are referred to but not described must be looked up, if unfamiliar, in the manuals of general methods.
Aids to Dissection and Study of the Cat.
—A copy of Jayne’s “Mammalian Anatomy” should be in the laboratory for reference. Only the volume on the Bones of the Cat has been issued thus far.