FELINES. 489 



than the posterior one. It would be difficult to recognise this meta- 

 morphosed molar as the corresponding tooth to the small tubercular 

 above, were we not assured of the fact by the constancy in the relative 

 position of the crowns of the molar series in the Carnivora, where the 

 lower ones are always in advance of the upper, and still more un- 

 equivocally by the relations of the permanent to the deciduous teeth. 

 The deciduous dentition in the genus Felis (PL 127, fig. 4) is : — 



Incisors — ; canines — : molars — : = 26. 



3—3 ' 1-1 ' 2—2 



The incisors in the common Cat begin to appear above the gum when 

 it is between two and three weeks old ; the canines next, and then the 

 molars follow, the whole being in place before the end of the sixth 

 week. After the seventh month they begin to fall in the same 

 order ; but the lower sectorial molar rises above the gum before 

 any of the deciduous molars are displaced. The longitudinal grooves 

 are very faintly marked in the deciduous canines. The first deciduous 

 molar in the upper jaw {d I) is a very small and simple, one-fanged 

 tooth ; it is succeeded by the corresponding tooth of the permanent 

 series, which answers to the second premolar of the Hysena and Dog. 

 The second deciduous molar {d 2) is the sectorial tooth ; its blade 

 is trilobate, but both the anterior and posterior smaller lobes are 

 notched, and the internal tubercle, which is relatively larger than 

 in the permanent sectorial, is continued from the base of the middle 

 lobe, as in the deciduous sectorial of the Dog and Hyaena ; it 

 thus typifies the form of the upper sectorial in the permanent 

 dentition of several Viverrine and Musteline species. The third 

 or internal fang of the deciduous sectorial is continued from 

 the inner tubercle, and is opposite the interspace of the two outer 

 langs. The Musteline type is further adhered to by the young 

 Feline in the large proportional size of its deciduous tubercular 

 tooth (d 3). In the lower jaw, the first milk-molar {d 1) is suc- 

 ceeded by a tooth {p 3) which is analogous to the third lower pre- 

 molar in the Dog and Civet(l). The deciduous sectorial {d 2), which 



(1) M. de Blainville states that the first lower deciduous molar in the Fells maniculata has 

 an unusually thick crown supported by three roots, and hence derives an argument against 

 the opinion of Temminck, that this Egyptian wild Cat was the source of our domestic 



