CH APT hhh hh 
CARNIVORA. 
Fam.—DIGITIGRADA. 
Gen. MACHAIRODUS, Kaur. 
Tne genus Machairodus was proposed by Kaup upon specimens of upper canine 
teeth, found in the later tertiary deposits of Europe, remarkable for their length, 
falciform shape, and serrulated margins. They had been previously referred to 
the genus Ursus, but the discovery in France, by M. Bravard, of an almost entire 
skull containing a tooth like those in question, decided the animal to belong to the 
feline family. 
Several species occurring in Europe and India have since been indicated, and 
the skull of a very large one was discovered by M. Lund in the caverns of Brazil. 
Machairodus primaevus, Letpy anp OWEN. 
(Pirate XVIII.) 
Machairodus primaevus, Leidy and Owen: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1851, v. 329; Owen’s Rep. ofa Geol. Sury. of 
Wisce., etc., 564. 
Among the mammalian remains brought by Dr. Evans, while engaged in the 
geological survey of Dr. Owen, from the Mauvaises Terres of Nebraska, is the head 
of a small species of Machairodus, which is probably the most ancient known. 
The species was characterized in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences under the name of Machairodus primaevus. 
The specimen upon which the latter is established is very much fractured and 
fissured, and it has the summit of the inion, the zygomata, anterior extremities of 
the ossa nasi, superior incisors, and the greater portion of the corresponding canines, 
and the symphysis of the lower jaw with the incisors and canines, broken away. 
When first received, it was partially enveloped in a matrix, which, though having 
the same general appearance as that inclosing all the other mammalian fossils from 
Nebraska, was unusually hard. Attached to the mass, but separated from the 
skull, was the greater portion of a tooth, which I have considered to be of an 
inferior canine of the same animal; but it may be one of the upper incisors, which, 
as indicated by the alveoli, are relatively very large compared with the correspond- 
ing teeth of Felis. 
