London discusses a case of a twenty-five-year-old woman with both cat and bird phobias. These were symbols of the phallus which the patient feared as she feared heterosexuality. She could not endure the touch of bird feathers or of cat fur. When a cat or bird was near her, she became hysterical and tense. The phobias first appeared about the age of seven after she saw the decapitation of a chicken. The relationship of the phobias to castration anxiety is not explained.

The interpretations are limited and the psychodynamics stated rather than developed. The overdetermination of the phobias is ignored. For example, London reports a dream of the patient in which the mother is pictured as a cat. The patient dislikes her mother and looks upon her as a maid or 'piece of furniture' to be used as a convenience. The discrepancy between these associations and the cat as phallus is not discussed.