The whiskers of cats, and of the cat tribe, are exceedingly sensitive, enabling them, when seizing their prey in the dark, to feel its position most acutely. These hairs are supplied, through their roots, with branches of the same nerves that give sensibility to the lips, and that in insects supply their "feelers."
1097. Why has the horse a smaller stomach proportionately than other animals?
Because the horse was created for speed. Had he the ruminating stomach of the ox, he would be quite unfitted for the labour which he now so admirably performs.
1098. Why has the horse no gall-bladder?
Because the rapid digestion of the horse, by which its fitness for speed is greatly increased, does not require the storing up of the bile as in other animals in which the digestive process is a slower operation.
1099. Why do certain butterflies lay their eggs upon cabbage leaves?
Because the cabbage leaves are the food of the young caterpillars; and although the butterfly does not subsist herself upon the leaf, she knows by instinct that the leaf will afford food to her future young; she therefore lays her eggs where her young ones will find food.
This explanation applies to many insects that lay their eggs upon other plants.
1100. Why have insects long projections from their heads, like horns or feathers?
Because those organs (the antennæ), are those through which come insects hear and others feel; and the projecting of these antennæ from their bodies probably enables them to hear or feel more acutely while their wings are in motion, without the interference of the vibrations of their wings.