same as that of the scratch-reflex in the dog evoked from stimulation of the flank and back. I had not then, unfortunately read more than an abstract of the above paper, but if the full account be followed it will be seen that the various “territories” belonging to all the former-reflexes are now known as well as the frontiers of a European Kingdom. All I was able to do with this unusual opportunity of a heavy sleep in a normal young cat was to verify more roughly Professor Sherrington’s observations and slightly to extend them _in respect of a sleeping animal_. In the course of these observations on a young cat I examined the various regions of the back and flanks with mechanical stimuli of different degrees of strength. These were applied during sleep and I found that it was more often during a moderate than a light or deep sleep that the following results were shown--chiefly under the stronger stimuli the tail was raised sharply and swept in a circular way, and this would be repeated according as the stimulus was applied; but at the same time there was shown a strong, irregular twitching along the flank, extending forwards to a point near the level of the shoulder. This latter reflex would appear to be a reaction on the part of the panniculus carnosus. Both the reflex of the muscles of the tail and this of the flanks appear to be connected in their origin with movements of parasites in their respective territories. In considering the scratch-reflex in the cat a subtle bit of adjustment is found. That coarse and simple scratching of its ear, which we see so often in the cat, must have often astonished us for its vigour and yet its bloodless character. This action is of course a purposeful one, for it goes on when the animal is awake. Here if anywhere this profoundly hedonistic animal shows that for it the laws of comfort are its laws of conduct. It is clear that there may be two processes or conditions involved in its bloodless violence. On the one hand the reflex retractile mechanism of the claws may be kept in abeyance by another reaction which is pre-potent; on the other, it is a fact that the hind foot in the cat is furnished with claws which are much blunter than those of the fore foot. As far as I have been able to examine cats of different ages I have found the claws of the hind foot more like the blunt claws of a dog than the familiar sharp claws of the Felidæ. So in the violent scratching referred to there may be a double reason associated in the process. As to the difference in the sharpness of the fore and hind claws it would appear to be remarkably like a transmitted bit of adaptation initiated and kept in being by use and habit in progression, for the hind foot in such animals as the cat has a larger share in this action than the fore foot. But here it is difficult as so often to assign to selection its possible share of the adjustment.