MACHAIRODUS. 175 



the teeth of the extinct Argenton Crocodile, or of the more 

 ancient reptiles called Megalosaurus and Cladyodon, than 

 the canine teeth of any known existing carnivorous Mam- 

 mal. 



These fossil falciform teeth have been found in the newer 

 tertiary deposits in Italy, in Germany, in France, and in 

 this country, for the most part singly and detached, and 

 always very rare. They were first noticed in 1824 * by 

 Cuvier, to whom the specimens discovered in the Val 

 D'Arno were exhibited by Professor Nesti ; and, from 

 evidence relative to their association with the remains of 

 a species of Ursus, Cuvier was induced to refer them to 

 that genus, under the specific name of Ursus cultridens. 



The first description of these large falciform canines is 

 due to Professor Nesti, according to M. de Blainville, who 

 cites his " Lettera terza dei alcune ossa fossili non peranco 

 descritte, al Sign. Prof. Paolo Savi, Pisa, 1826." Cuvier 

 makes mention of one of these teeth in the Cabinet of 

 Fossils at Darmstadt, which, from a drawing transmitted 

 to him by M. Schleyermacher, seemed to resemble in every 

 respect the falciform teeth found in Tuscany. 



Amongst the rich collection of fossils discovered, princi- 

 pally by the Rev. Mr. Mac Enery, in the bone-cave of 

 Kent's Hole near Torquay, Devon, two canines were recog- 

 nized by Dr. Buckland as very similar to those of Italy 

 and Germany, on which Cuvier 1 s species " Ursus cultridens'''' 

 had been founded. 



M. Bravard, however, having observed in parts of a 

 fossil cranium of a large species of FeUs, indications of an 

 unusually long and compressed canine tooth, in the form of 

 the socket of the upper canine, and the deep depression for 

 the reception of its crown on the outside of the lower jaw, 



* Supplement to the " Ossemens Fossiles," 4to. 1824, vol. v. pt. ii. p. 517. 



