"Then take puss on your lap, Norah, and we"ll begin," said he. "First look at her eyes. Now look into my eyes. You see that round black spot in the middle of my eye? That is the pupil of the eye. Light enters the eye through the pupil. The pupil ofthe cats eye is not like ours. In the bright light it is a long narrow slit; when it is dark the pupil opens into a very wide round window.""I suppose," said Norah, "that is to help her to see when it is dark.""It is," said Fred. "She wants to see well then, for the mice come out of their holes at night.
"Look at her now while she is stretching herself. What a wide mouth she has, and what long sharp teeth. Four of the teeth, two in each jaw, are much larger and stronger than the rest. Teacher says they are meant for seizingand tearing the mice and birds. We move our jaw from side to side, as well as up and down, when we chew our food. The cat"sjaw cannot move side-ways, it moves only up and down. Her jaws as well as her teeth are meant for cutting, not for chewing.
"I wonder whether the cat will let us look at her tongue? Try and open her mouth, Will." But the cat began to growl and look so savage that they had to give it up.