CHAPTER III. 

 CARNIVORA. 



Fain. — DiGITIGRADA. 

 Gen. MACHAIKOBUS, Kaup. 



The genus MacJiairodm was proposed by Kaup upon specimens of upper canine 

 teeth, found in the later tertiary deposits of Europe, remarkable for their length, 

 falciform shape, and serrulated margins. They had been previously referred to 

 the genus Ursus, but the discovery in France, by M. Bravard, of an almost entire 

 skull containing a tooth like those in question, decided the animal to belong to the 

 feline family. 



Several species occurring in Europe and India have since been indicated, and 

 the skull of a very large one was discovered by M. Lund in the caverns of Brazil. 



IHachairodus^ primaevus, Leidy and Owen. 



(Plate XVIII.) 



MacTiairodus primaevus, Leidy and Owen: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1851, v. 329; Owen's Rep. of a Geol. Surv. of 

 Wise, etc., 564. 



Among the mammalian remains brought by Dr. Evans, while engaged in the 

 geological survey of Dr. Owen, from the Mauvaises Terres of Nebraska, is the head 

 of a small species of Machairodits, which is probably the most ancient known. 



The species was characterized in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences under the name of Machairodus primaevus. 



The specimen upon which the latter is established is very much fractured and 

 fissured, and it has the summit of the inion, the zygomata, anterior extremities of 

 the ossa nasi, superior incisors, and the greater portion of the corresponding canines, 

 and the symphysis of the lower jaw with the incisors and canines, broken away. 

 When first received, it was partially enveloped in a matrix, which, though having 

 the same general appearance as that inclosing all the other mammalian fossils from 

 Nebraska, was unusually hard. Attached to the mass, but separated from the 

 skull, was the greater portion of a tooth, which I have considered to be of an 

 inferior canine of the same animal; but it may be one of the upper incisors, which, 

 as indicated by the alveoli, are relatively very large compared with the correspond- 

 ing teeth of Felis. 



