45 



lion ; I have ventured to clistin«;uish him under 

 that genus, and have called him the Megalonyx, 

 after the Greek, which signifies the great lion. 



However presumptuous this step may ap- 

 pear, I found it essential to take it ; in order 

 to avoid the vulgar error of calling it " mam- 

 moth," a term already bestowed on an animal 

 of the elephantine species, as heretofore proved, 

 and of the herbivorous nature. Besides, in 

 a place which abounded with bones, I found it 

 absolutely necessary to have some system of 

 classification. For, in fact, I discovered re- 

 mains of no less than six species of incognita ; 

 three of which I have not as yet defined. But 

 would it be wise to blend them all together, 

 and, to save the labour of investigation, to 

 involve them all in the name of mammoth ? In 

 my first memoir I gave my motives for affixing 

 this name to one particular animal, whose pro- 

 perties I described ; — and in this, 1 give the 

 name of megalom/x to another, whose capacities 

 I shall further explain. In zoology, this 

 name will, I imagine, class under felis, a ge- 

 nus of quadrupeds belonging to the order of 

 fera, the principal characters of which are 

 these, — the fore teeth ai-e equal, the molares, 



