178 



FELID.E. 



part which received the long descending crown of the 

 upper canine when the mouth was closed. 



The Felis megantereon of M. Bravard is much too 

 small, of course, for the great falciform canines of the 

 Machairodus cultridens, some of which measure nine inches 

 in length, following the outer curve. I have had the satis- 

 faction of obtaining the same kind of evidence of the 

 feline affinities of the Machairodus from an inspection of 

 the fossil remains discovered by Messrs. Falconer and 

 Cautley in the tertiary deposits of the Sewalik mountain 

 range, and transmitted by Captain Cautley to the British 

 Museum. A portion of the left side of the upper jaw of a 

 young Machairodus, with apparently the first or deciduous 

 dentition, exhibits the characteristic elongated, compressed, 

 and finely serrated canine in situ : the extremity of the 

 crown is broken off, but the tooth evidently bore the same 

 proportion to the molar series as does the canine of 

 the Felis megantereon of Bravard. 



The molar series in the Sewalik Machairodus included, 

 in an extent of one inch and a half, three teeth : the first, 

 which is simple, single-fanged, and very small, is indicated 

 by the socket : the second, measuring eight lines in the an- 

 tero-posterior diameter, is the carnassial or sectorial tooth ; 

 its crown is more compressed, its trenchant margins sharper, 

 and the inner tubercle less developed than in the normal 

 species of Felis : the socket of the third or tubercular 

 molar is behind, or in a line with the sectorial tooth, as 

 in the milk-teeth of the Lion. What remains of the 

 crown of the canine indicates its great length : the breadth 

 of its base is five lines ; it is much compressed ; the inner 

 surface is flat, and both edges are finely but distinctly 

 serrated. Like the larger canines of Machairodus, the 

 outer convex side of the tooth is devoid of the two linear 



