FELINES. 487 



not so large as in the Hyaena, but is conical, with a sharp ridge 

 on the outer side, and a small tubercle on the inner side, in which 

 the posterior basal ridge terminates : the smaller intermediate in- 

 cisors have their broad and thick crowns indented by a transverse 

 cleft, and the posterior ridge so defined, is sub-divided by a minute 

 vertical notch, which is soon worn away. The lower incisors 

 are smaller, especially the outer pair, which have an external basal 

 tubercle, and have not the posterior ridge. The canines are very 

 large and strong ; the fang commonly thicker and longer than the 

 enamelled crown : this is conical, sub-compressed, slightly recurved, 

 sharp-pointed ; convex anteriorly and externally ; much less convex 

 internally, almost flat here in the lower canines : the two surfaces are 

 divided by a sharp ridge behind, where they meet at an acute 

 angle and where feeble indications of a serrated structure may 

 be discerned in the larger Cats, as the Lion and Tiger : both the 

 outer and the inner surfaces of the crown are indented with one, 

 or more commonly, two parallel longitudinal grooves, which are 

 very characteristic of the canines of the typical Felidcd ; they are 

 faintly expressed in those of the Hunting Leopard, and are not 

 present in the long, compressed and serrated canines of the very for- 

 midable extinct Feline sub-genus Machairodus. 



The first upper premolar (marked p 2 in fig 1 , as answering to the 

 second in the Hyaena and Dog) is a very small tooth with an obtuse 

 conical crown supported by a single fang, except in the Felis pla- 

 niceps in which it retains its typical structure, and has two fangs : 

 the opposite variety is manifested by the Short-tailed Lynxes, in 

 which this small premolar is commonly wanting, as in the extinct 

 Machairodus. The second upper premolar (p 3), of much larger 

 size, has a sub-compressed conical crown, with a posterior, some- 

 times bilobed, basal tubercle, and a small anterior prominence ; it 

 has two strong diverging fangs. The third upper premolar (p 4) 

 is the sectorial tooth ; its extensive blade is divided into three lobes 

 by two angular notches ; the first and second lobes are conical, the 

 latter the largest and with its point inclined backwards as in all 

 strictly flesh-eating Carnivora^ an obtuse ridge is continued from its 

 inner side to the base of the internal tubercle ; the third lobe is 



