FELIS CKISTATA. 



315 



XV. ON FELIS CRISTATA, A NEW FOSSIL TIGER 

 FROM THE SEWALIK HILLS.> 



To the large fossil species of th.e genus Felis liitherto de- 

 scribed we are now enabled to add another, from the tertiary 

 strata of the Sewalik hills, differing alike from the F. spelcea 

 and F. antiqua of the ' Ossemens Fossiles,' and, so far as 

 our means for comparison enable us to judge, from every 

 known member of the genus. 



The specimen from which we take our description is one 

 of the most perfect that has up to this time been exhumed 

 from the fossil tract. It was found at the foot of a sandstone 

 cliff, partly encased in a hard stone matrix. It consists of a 

 nearly entire head, deficient only in the temporal apophysis 

 of the left zygomatic arch, and in a small portion of the 

 sagittal crest. The incisors had dropped out, but the 

 alveoli are sufficiently distinct to indicate their number 

 and relative size. The cheek teeth are nearly entire, but 

 the canines are broken off at their bases. The fragility of 

 the specimen has deterred us from removing a portion of hard 

 stony matrix which fills up the right zygomatic fossa, and 

 conceals the base of the skull from the anterior margin of the 

 occipital foramen on to the posterior border of the palatine 

 bones. 



Plate XXV. fig. 2, represents the head in profile, and 

 shows the peculiarities of the fossil in the most striking light. 



1st. The relative shortness of the facial portion of the 

 head, from, the post-orbital apophyses of the frontal to the 

 border of the incisives, and the length of the cranial portion 

 from the same point to the occipital crest ; the dimensions 

 being as 124 to 153. In this respect it differs from aU exist- 

 ing species, in which, as exhibited by Cuvier,^ the facial 

 portion of the head exceeds the cranial, generally to a con- 

 siderable extent. 



' This paper is reprinted from tho 

 'Asiatic Kesearclies,' vol. xix. p. 135, 

 1836. Several specimens of the skull 

 of Felis cristata are figured in an un- 

 published plate of the ' Fauna Antiqua 



Sivalensis ' (see description of Plate K.), 

 and from this tlie accompanying draw- 

 ings have been copied. — [Ed.] 



^ Ossemens Fossiles, vol. iv. p. 147. 



