282 Lloyd's natural history. 



EXTINCT CATS AND CIVETS. 



I. FAMILY FELID^ {supra, p. 1). 



I. GENUS FELIS [suprh, p. 26). 

 Reference having already been made to such existing species 

 as have been discovered in a fossil state, it will suffice here to 

 allude to some of the more important extinct representatives 

 of the genus. The earliest known True Cats appear to be the 

 small Felts media and F pygmaa, from the Middle Miocene 

 strata of Sansan, in the Department of Gers, France, with which 

 F. turnauensiS) from the corresponding strata of Styria, may 

 prove to be identical. From the Lower Pliocene beds of Darm- 

 stadt, Attica, and Persia, species have been described under 

 the names of F. a/itediluviana, Fprisca, F liodon, and F. attica; 

 the latter being known by an entire skull, much resembling 

 that of the Wild Cat, but with more powerful teeth. The 

 Upper Pliocene strata of the Auvergne and the Val d'Arno 

 have likewise yielded remainsof several species, such asF.arver- 

 nensis, F brevirostris , F issiodorensis, and F pard'uiensis ; while 

 in the Pliocene of Montpellier we have F. ehristoli, resembling 

 a Lynx in size. In the Pliocene strata of the Siwalik Hills of 

 Northern India the great F. cristata, which w r as fully as large 

 as a Tiger, appears to show characters intermediate between 

 that species and the Jaguar; while the same deposits have also 

 yielded remains of a small species apparently allied to the 

 living F. bengalensis. In the Pliocene of the United States 

 there occur remains of two species of the size of the Lion 

 known as F atrox and F augusta ; while from the Pleistocene 

 of Argentina certain Cats more or less nearly allied to the Jaguar 

 and other existing South American species have been named. 



II. GENUS CYN^ELURUS {rnprh, p. 201). 



The only fossil species referred to the same genus as the 

 Hunting-Leopard is one from the Siwalik Hills described as 

 C. brachygnathus. Unfortunately this is known only by the 



