1 34 



THE CAT TRIBE. 



lynx also was considered to make an ex- 

 cellent roast. This is rather a noticeable 

 fact, seeing that the flesh of beasts of prey 

 in general, notwithstanding its beautiful 

 white colour, is rendered by its toughness 

 not very appetizing. 



The Fossa. We introduce here a very 



remarkable animal which is found only in 

 Madagascar, and which may be described as 

 a Tertiary feline whose existence has been 

 continued to the present day. It is the Fossa 

 of the Malagasies, or, in scientific nomencla- 

 ture, Cryptoprocta ferox (fig. 88). 



I have called the fossa a Tertiary feline, 



Fig. 87. The Spanish Lynx (Lynx pardinus). page 183. 



and we must actually go back to the Eocene 

 formations in order to meet with another 

 dentition of the kind. In the upper and 

 under jaw there are six incisors as in all 

 Carnivora; but in the upper jaw the two inner 

 pairs are very small with narrow crowns, 

 while the outer pair are much larger, and 

 have each the form of a truncated cone. 

 The canines are short, thick, not very sharp 

 at the edges, like the canines of certain 

 bears. After the canines there follow on 

 each side four premolars, the first very 

 small, deciduous; the second with two roots; 

 the third larger than the first two, with a 

 posterior heel and an internal marginal 

 tubercle; while the fourth is the carnassial, 

 with two very sharp cusps and an internal 



process in front. A very small transversely 

 placed tubercled tooth comes close behind 

 the posterior cusp of the carnassial. If the 

 supernumerary deciduous premolar is left 

 out of account, the dentition of the upper 

 jaw is that of a feline of the present day. 

 The lower jaw has very strong curved 

 canines, and behind these the same number 

 of premolars as the upper jaw (four on each 

 side), the first again deciduous, the others 

 increasing in size from before backwards, 

 with sharp median cusps, and finally a car- 

 nassial with two sharp cusps and a posterior 

 heel. 



This lower jaw is no longer than that of 

 a feline, for it has two premolars in excess. 

 But the form and position of the teeth are 



