182 



FELID^E. 



the affinities of the fossils in question, may be most conve- 

 niently applied. 



Fig. 70. 



Incisor of Machairodus, 

 nat. size. Kent's Hole. 



The right external incisive tooth 

 (fig. 70) strongly indicates, by the 

 serration of the anterior and posterior 

 margins of the crown, that it be- 

 longed to the same species as the 

 falciform canines, and closely con- 

 forms in other respects with the ex- 

 ternal incisors of the existing Feline 

 animals. Assuming it to belong to 

 the Machairodus latidens, it proves 

 this species to have relatively larger 

 external incisors than any of the 

 existing Felines, or than the Mack, 

 megantereon. The obtuse consolidated 

 fang, thickly coated by cement, which this incisor, like the 

 canine, possesses, proves both kinds of teeth to have be- 

 longed to an aged animal. 



Hitherto, no parts of the skeleton have been found in 

 England so associated with the characteristic teeth of the 

 Machairodus as to throw any additional light on the or- 

 ganization of this once formidable beast of prey. A com- 

 parison of fig. 69 with fig. 67 will shew that the Machai- 

 rodus latidens must have equalled, or nearly equalled, in 

 bulk the spelaean Tiger ; and we can scarcely doubt, from 

 its remains being found with those of the previously de- 

 scribed large extinct Carnivora in the same recent tertiary 

 deposits in India, Italy, Germany, and France, as well 

 as in the caves of England, that it was their contemporary. 

 When we are informed that, in some districts of India, 

 entire villages have been depopulated by the destructive in- 

 cursions of a single species of large Feline animal, the Tiger, 



