582 EEPORT— 1889. 



5. On the Bone Caves of Cresswell, and Discovery of an Extinct Pleiocene 

 Feline (Felis brevirostris) new to Great Britain. By Dr. R. Laing. 



Cresswell Crags form a ravine in magnesian limestone of the Permian forma- 

 tion, a small brook running through it dividing the counties of Derby and Notts, 

 They contain several caves, fissures, and rock shelters, which in the late Pleistocene 

 age were alternately the abode of the spotted hyaena and man. The ' Pin Hole ' 

 was explored by the Rev. J. Magens Mello, in 1875, when he found remains 

 of .the grizzly bear, wolf, common fox, bison, reindeer, Irish elk, horse, woolly 

 rhinoceros, mammoth, glutton, and Arctic fox, the latter being new to Britain. The 

 Robin Hood and Church caves were next explored by Professor Boyd Dawkius 

 and the Rev. J. M. Mello, assisted by a committee of geologists. The remains found 

 were the same as those of the Pin Hole, with the addition of the lion, Machairodiis 

 latidens, leopard, and man. 



I afterwards explored the Dog Hole ; its contents being similar to those of the 

 Pin Hole, with the addition of the wild boar. I then further explored the Robin 

 Hood cave, and in the south-west corner an oval cairn twenty feet long of stones and 

 earth was found, over a fissure twenty-one feet deep, which terminated in a cavern, 

 both filled with unfossiliferous red sand. The Paleolithic beds crosssed over the top 

 of the fissure. The cist was constructed of stone slabs of enormous size, sunk through 

 the fossiliferous beds into the red sand. A radius and humerus were all that remained 

 of the skeleton, which had apparently been in a crouching position. An elabo- 

 rately-chipped flint spearhead appeared to belong to the interment. This interment 

 simuilated one of Palaeolithic age, the two kinds of remains being together, and in 

 nearly the same mineral condition, but was proved to be Neolithic, as the cairn 

 sealed up the entrance to a deposit of Neolithic age, resting upon Palaeolithic beds 

 continuous with those of the front cave, in a horseshoe shaped gallery 120 feet 

 long, which was filled with red sand. The north end of the gaUery had not been 

 invaded by the animals or man. The Pleistocene deposit was covered with six 

 to eight inches of stalagmite. Remains of the historic period were rarely found 

 in the front cave when originally explored ; the following were, liowever, found 

 in the gallery, and identified by Professor Boyd Dawkins : — Irish elk, stag, roe, 

 goat, urus, horse, bear, badger, wolf, fox, wild cat, and hare. There were also human 

 bones, and a flint spearhead of a Neolithic make. The Pleistocene deposit contained 

 the same fauna as its continuation in the front cave, with the addition of Felis brevi- 

 rostris, f which two maud ibles, an upper maxilla, and a radius were found near each 

 other beneath the stalagmite. It is an extinct feline new to Britain, not previously 

 found in a bone cave, but described with remains from the upper Pleiocene in 

 France. The original description is by MM. Croizet et Jobert, " Ossemens fos.siles du 

 Puy-de-D6me," vol. i. p. 200. Two mandibles were found by them with others of 

 another species, the Felis issiodorensis or Issoire cat. 



The following is their summary of the distinguishing features of the mandible 

 of Felis brevirostris : — 



' La troisieme incisive est heaucoup plus grande que dans toutes les especes, et 

 placSe immediatemeut contre le bord interne de la canine, c'est comme une seconde 

 et plus petite canine. L'angle anterieur du bord inf(5rieur est extremement prolonge, 

 le trou mentonnier descend heaucoup en meme temps de sorte que le prolongement 

 du menton ne pent pas etre I'effet d'un accident.' 



The Cresswell specimen possesses these characteristics, the lower border being 

 prolonged in a straight line, and ending in a tubercle which projects below the 

 level of the jaw. The incisors are wanting, but enough is left of the alveolus to 

 show the peculiarity mentioned by MM. Croizet et Jobert. The upper jaw is quite 

 unique, having a molar series of only three teeth, the anterior premolar tubercular 

 tooth being quite absent, with no trace of any alveolus, and the canine tooth is 

 apparently enlarged in compensation. The anterior palatine foramen perforates 

 the palate process further back than in existing cats. The extremely carnivorous 

 nature of the animal is shown by the absence of the first tubercular tooth, the 

 large size of the canine, and the small size of the tubercle and massiveness of the 

 blade of the sectorial tooth in the upper jaw. In the lower jaw the canine is 



