48 THE MAMMALIA. 



cave-lion, which hunted its prey as far north as Yorkshire and the 

 frontier of Poland, resembled Felis leo in all but its superior size. 



Our chief interest, at present, however, centres in a member 

 of the FeiidcB, which was more highly specialised than any existing 

 form. This most terrible of all the cats was Machairodus, the 

 celebrated sabre-toothed tiger. Its teeth were reduced to twenty- 

 six. The canines were extraordinarily developed, trenchant and 

 sabre-shaped. There is a theory that Machairodus died out 

 because it finally could not shut its mouth. This theory may 

 serve as well, or as ill, as any other, which, with our present 

 knowledge, attempts to account for the dying out of species. Its 

 range was very wide, for the remains of the sabre-toothed tiger are 

 found in Britain, in Europe, in India, and in North and South 

 America. It appears first in the Miocene, and disappears in the 

 Post-Pliocene. 



An equally terrible animal, Hyoefiodofi horridus, is found in the 

 Eocene and Miocene of Europe. It had the complete number 

 of teeth, 44, but these were all of the carnassial type, intended for 

 tearing flesh, and it had no tubercular molars. There were many 

 families of this genus, but though they were apparently perfectly 

 capable of shutting their mouths, they disappeared, as afterwards 

 did the sabre-toothed tiger. 



The family pedigree of the cats is a long and a most satisfac- 

 tory and interesting one. In Oscar Schmidt's " Mammalia," will 

 be found the account of the descent of the Fe/idce, through the 

 VivernE or weasels, from the Viverrine dog, Cynodicfis, which 

 possessed the dental formula of the dog. 



I. - , c. - ,pj?L — , m.- 

 3 1 4 3 



The line can be traced, literally, tooth by tooth, from Cynodic- 

 tis of the Eocene, through Proeliirus and Pseudoelurus^ to the genus 

 Fclis^ and even further on to Machairodus. These transitional 

 forms have been mostly traced in France, by Filhol, from the 

 Eocene deposits of South Western France, to the lower Miocene 

 deposits of Saint Gerard le Puy on the Allier, and the upper 

 Eocene Phosphorites of Quercy. The pedigree given by Oscar 

 Schmidt of the Felidai and Vivcrrce will be found interesting : — 



