96 
Miscellaneous. 
Argentine Republic), wliick have in the upper jaw a pair of canines 
in the form of long poniards. The late M. Lund, to whom we are 
indebted for so many curious discoveries relating to the extinct 
Mammalia of the former of the above regions, first of all gave the 
name of Hyaena neogaea and afterwards that of Smilodon populator 
to these redoubtable carnivores ; and De Blainville has figured an 
almost entire skull of one in his ‘ Osteography of Felis,’ calling it 
Felis smilodon. This cranium belongs to the collection of the Paris 
Museum ; and it offers this peculiarity, that it is provided with three 
pairs of inferior molars, as is also the case in all the other species 
of Felidae, whether the ordinary Felidae or the Machairodontes or 
Felidae with cultriform superior canines, of which we are completely 
acquainted with the dentition. 
Among the latter figure Machairodus megantereon from the Plio¬ 
cene of the Auvergne, M. leoninus from the Upper Miocene of Greece, 
M. palmidens from the Miocene of Sansan (Gers), M. bidentatus or 
Eusmilus perarmatus from the phosphorites of Quercy, and M. 
(Drepanodori) primeevus from Dakota. 
On the other hand the Smilodontes, in the normal state, appear 
to have possessed only two inferior molars on each side; and Prof. 
Reinhardt was so convinced of this fact that he believed that the 
third pair of teeth (first pair of premolars) of the Parisian cranium 
had been added in order to give more value to the specimen *. 
From the small size of the teeth in question and their inequality, I 
should prefer to consider them accidental ; moreover they are 
implanted in true alveoli. 
At any rate I find only two pairs of molars in the same jaw in 
all the other Smilodontes that I have been able to examine; and as 
these are tolerably numerous, it seems to me difficult to believe that 
there is more than one species in this genus, and that its dental 
formula should be expressed otherwise than as follows :— i. c. -f, 
m - f • 
' Machairodus necator, which I have indicated from the skeleton 
brought by M. Larroque, follows the ordinary rule ; and De Blain- 
ville’s Felis smilodon must, in all probability, be regarded only as 
presenting a case of anomaly, worthy, no doubt, to be mentioned, 
but which cannot be considered to indicate a distinct species. 
A cranium of a young Machairodus smilodon with two inferior 
molars, discovered in the Argentine Republic, forms part of the 
Museum at Stockholm; there are also two adult crania, of the same 
origin, at the Museum of Copenhagen, in which the dentition is the 
same ; a maxillary belonging to the College of Surgeons in London, 
and another, preserved in the Museum at Paris, do not differ in this 
respect; and lastly, as I learn from M. Ameghino, there are several 
exactly similar crania in the museums of Buenos Ayres. 
In conclusion it may be remarked that the lower jaw represented 
in M. Lund’s memoirs, and which is, so to speak, the type of the 
species under consideration, also possesses the same character.— 
Comptes Rendus, October 22, 1878, p. 582. 
* Tidsskrift for populser Frems til linger af N aturvidenskaben, p. 344. 
