186 Mr. C. Lyell on the discovery of Fossil Teeth 



XIX. — On the discovery of Fossil Teeth of a Leopard, Bear, 

 and other animals in a Crag Pit at Newbourn in Suffolk. 

 By Charles Lyell, Esq., F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &c. 



During a late tour in Suffolk (June 1839,) Mr. Wm. Col- 

 chester of Ipswich pointed out to me in his collection of fossil 

 teeth from the Red Crag of Newbourn near Woodbridge, one 

 tooth which differed greatly from the rest, and which we, both 

 of us, suspected to belong to a carnivorous mammifer. 



On submitting the tooth to the inspection of Mr. Owen of 

 the College of Surgeons, he found on comparison that it agreed 

 precisely in size and shape with the posterior grinder of 

 lower jaw (left side) of the Leopard, Felis leopardus, Linn. 

 " This tooth,^' says Mr. Owen, " is so exactly similar in size 

 and shape to the corresponding tooth in the Leopard, that 

 even its specific identity could not be denied. At the same 

 time the dental formula of the genus Felis maintains so close 

 a correspondence in everything but size throughout the known 

 species, that the identity of the fossil with any existing spe- 

 cies could not be affirmed on the evidence of a tooth alone. 

 The characteristic fragment from Newbourn affords however 

 decisive evidence that a feline animal as large as a Leopard 

 existed at the geological epoch indicated by the formation in 

 which it was found.^^ 



The molar in question is imperfect ; the crown and upper 

 portion, so far as the enamel Fig. i. 



extends, is well preserved, but 

 the base has lost the fangs, 

 and has the appearance of 

 having been worn and polish- 

 ed after the fangs had been Posterior molar (left side) of Leopard. 



"■ n a. View ot tooth from the inside. 



broken short off. The two *• view or the same from the outside. 



cusps on the crown still retain their points. (See fig. 1.) 



This fossil resembles in colour that of many of the accom- 

 panying teeth of fishes, most of which belong to different spe- 

 cies of the shark family, with which the palatal bones of the 

 Myliobates, a kind of Skate, are intermixed. It is deserving 

 of 'remark that in a great portion of the shark^s teeth the softer 

 or bony portion at the base has been worn away more or less 



a. 



