in way .if food supply, ability for protection from enemies, over 

 specialization, freedom from accidenl and the vitality of the rare. 

 The factors which extend into the extinction of this species were 



over specialization and accident. 

 is evidenced by the total extinc 

 this species undoubtedly t : ed. 

 well fitted for obtaining food ol 

 the large animals, passed away 



most probably That of food supply. 



Thai the f I supply became scanty 



lion of the large animals upon which 



The saber-tooths were especially 

 a certain kind. bu1 when this kind 

 they, too, disappeared. Therefore since the tigers were unable to 

 reduce the size of the sabers to thai required for effective feeding 



upon smaller animals, these teeth became j r instruments and when 



broken were worse than useless, a positive hindrance. Eence thai 

 which proved so effective under favorable conditions of a well- 

 balanced fauna, became under unfavorable circumstances the very 

 agent of its own destruction. Primarily therefore, over specialization 

 was the Cause of extinction. 



The greal American lion, Felis atrox bebbi, is one of the 



Kkull ol" a T.ion. 



rarest finds of the whole deposit, and from the individuals found, 

 the tigers out numbered it ten to one. The scarcity of these animals 

 is further evidenced by the fact that outside of these deposits only 

 fragments of skeletons have been known. of these fragments a 

 large jaw found, in 1836, near Natchez, Mississippi, seems to be the 

 best representative. To dale only live good skulls have been reported. 

 The first discovered in October 1908, by the writer, the second by 

 Dr. Bebb of Los Angeles, December 1908, and the third by Walter 

 Price Gilbert in July 1909, the others later by the Occidental College. 

 These skulls indicate the African type of lion in their (dose resem 

 blance to that animal, but are much larger than those of any other 



member of the whole cut family, either recent or fossil. So fai- 

 ns the writer has been able to ascertain, all specimens were obtained 

 in the lower levels of the diggings, thus indicating an earlier extinc 

 tion than that of the tigers. 



The fossil fragments in the beds near Natchez and this rich find 

 ; ,t Bancho La Brea, lead us to believe that this type of lion had 

 u very wide geographical range in our country during the Pleistocene 

 period. The association of the greal American lion and the saber 



:::', 



