MACHALIRODUS. Wie 
broad in proportion as those of M/achairodus.” No bones, 
however, of any large Ruminant had ever been detected 
so associated with the teeth of the Machairodus as to 
countenance the supposition that they had formed the 
defensive weapons of a large hornless extinct species allied 
to the Musk-deer; whilst, on the other hand, the discovery 
in Kent's Hole of the external upper incisor (fig. 70), 
having its sharp edges as strongly serrated as in the great 
faleiform canines, left little doubt that they appertained to 
the same species, and afforded corresponding proof of its 
carnivorous character. 
The real affinities of the problematical Machairodus have 
at length been decided by M. Bravard’s discovery of the 
skull of his Felis megantereon, retaiming the falciform canine 
in situ, “Sarmée encore de sa dent falciforme.”* <A  re- 
duced outline copy of the drawing of this interesting fossil, 
transmitted by M. Bravard to M. de Blainville, is placed 
at the head of the present section (fig. 68): the original 
had not been seen by the Parisian Professor; but, from a 
rapid inspection of a plaster model, the cranium seemed 
to him to bear a great resemblance to that of the 
Panther. 
The Comparative Anatomist is prepared the more readily 
to accept this announcement, from the fact that the 
modification of the lower jaw, upon which M. Bravard 
had previously been led to found his new species of Felis 
(F'. megantercon), is precisely such as would best accord 
with an unusually elongated form of canine: the modifi- 
cation in question consists of a sudden and considerable 
increase in the vertical diameter or depth of the symphy- 
sial part of the lower jaw; whilst a depression on the outer 
side, between the canine and the first molar, indicates the 
* See De Blainville’s Ostéographie, Felis, p. 140. 
