204 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 24, 



of an animal hitherto unknown in Britain, in a fissure that penetrates 

 the Permian limestone of Pleasley Yale, termed the Yew-tree Cave. 

 They were associated with the remains of wolf, fox, roedeer, and 

 other animals. " N^o confident opinion, founded on the position of 

 the bones on the floor of the cave, could be formed as to their rela- 

 tive ages, as the dribbling of water through the loose stones of the 

 floor carries away a id displaces the mud and objects imbedded in 

 it "*. The geological age, therefore, of the remains in the cave can- 

 not be determined with absolute certainty. So far as the internal 

 evidence goes, they may be of Prehistoric or even of Historic date, 

 with as great probability as Postglacial; but, nevertheless, there 

 are two circumstances which render the latter hypothesis the most 

 tenable. The Tichorhine Ehinoceros, Mammoth, and Bison have 

 been found in a cave in the neighbourhood ; and therefore Postglacial 

 mammals occupied that district. In the second place, the carnivore 

 in question must have crossed over into Derbyshire while Britain 

 formed part of the mainland of Europe, or, in other words, during 

 the Postglacial epoch ; for it is impossible to suppose that it could 

 have invaded our island from Prance or Germany during Prehistoric 

 times, and that it should have been brought over by the care of man 

 is most unlikely. I have therefore felt justified in considering it a 

 member of the Postglacial Pauna, although direct evidence is want- 

 ing. It is undistinguishable from the Lynx inhabiting Norway at 

 the present day. 



Order Carnivora, genus Machairodus, species Machairodus latidens, 

 Owen. The fact that, out of all the numerous localities in which the 

 remains of fossil mammals have been found in Britain, Kent's 

 Hole Cavern alone should hi^ve furnished traces of this most for- 

 midable Pliocene carnivore, inclined the late Dr. Palconer to doubt 

 its having been found in that cavernf. The canines on which the 

 species is founded are four in number, and are preserved in the British 

 Museum, and in those of Oxford, the College of Surgeons, and the 

 Geological Society. Their mineral condition and the colour of the 

 adherent matrix are identical with those of the Kent's-Hole fossils ; 

 and the manuscripts of their discoverer, the E-ev. J. MacEnery, 

 published in 1859J, prove, beyond all doubt, that the Cultridens 

 (= Machairodus) was found in the cave along with "Elephants, 

 Elks, Horses, Hysena, and myriads of Rodentia." The teeth in 

 question also can be satisfactorily traced from the MacEnery collec- 

 tion to the museums in which they are preserved : those in the 

 British and Oxford Museums were purchased and presented by Dr. 

 Lovell PhiUips ; that in the Museum of the College of Surgeons was 

 presented by Lord Enniskillen, for whom, most probably, it was 

 purchased by Dr. Battersby; while that in the Museum of the 

 Geological Society was presented by Mrs. Cazalet, along with other 

 remains from the cave. The incisor figured by Prof. Owen in the 



* British Association Report, Nottingham, 1866, paper read before Section C. 

 t Palaeontological Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 549. 



t Cavern Researches, by the late Rev. J. MacEnery, F.Q-.S. ; edited by E. 

 Vivian, Esq. 8vo, pp. 32, 33. 



