“The cat brought her canines into play and wounded you with one of them as quickly as a steel point could have done.
“Now look at the molars. There are four above, the last one very small, and three below. Their cusps or points are still sharper than the wolf’s; so, too, the cat’s appetite—like that of its kindred, the tiger, the panther, the jaguar, and others—demands more flesh than that of the wolf and animals like it, such as the fox, the jackal, and especially the dog. Have you ever noticed how disdainful the cat is when you throw her only a piece of bread? Scarcely has she smelt it when she makes a movement of superb scorn, tail in the air, back raised, and looks at you as if to say: ‘Are you making fun of me? I want something else.’ Or, if very hungry, she reluctantly bites the bread, chews it awkwardly, and swallows it with distaste. The dog, on the contrary, our good Azor for example, catches the bread joyfully in his mouth without letting it touch the ground, and if he finds any fault with the piece it is for being too small. You call the cat a glutton. I take her part and maintain that it is not the vice of gluttony she shows, but that her teeth [[20]]must have meat. What could you expect her pointed canines and keen-edged molars to do with a crust of bread? They demand, above all, a prey that bleeds, a quivering bit of flesh.
Jaws and Teeth of a Horse
“What a difference between the teeth of the hunter and those of the peaceful chewer of grass! Let us examine this picture of a horse’s head. Here the incisors, six in number, are powerful; they seize the forage and cut it, a mouthful at a time. The canines, of no use here, show only as little knobs on the jaw-bone. Next beyond comes a long vacant space called the bar; that is where the bit is held in the horse’s mouth. Back of the bar you see the real grinding mechanism, composed of twelve pairs of strong molars with square, flat crowns furnished with slightly projecting folds whose usefulness I have already pointed out to you. If I am not much mistaken, here we have a mill capable of grinding tough straw and fibrous hay.
“Finally, here is a rabbit’s head. Each jaw is furnished with two enormous incisors set deep into the [[21]]bone, bent backward above, and ending each in a sharp-edged crown. What are such incisors as those made for?”
“I know,” Jules quickly replied. “The rabbit is always nibbling. For want of better food it will gnaw the bark of a tree and even the wood. It uses its incisors to cut its food very fine, to gnaw it.”
Jaws and Teeth of a Rodent
a, hamster’s jaws and teeth; b, upper incisor of a rabbit.