150 PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 
three animals were placed in serial order, Felis leo would occupy the middle place, the 
points of difference between Lion and Tiger being exaggerated in Felis spelea. Secondly, 
that while it is undoubtedly true that els spelea was on the whole a larger and stouter 
animal than the existing Lion, some individuals are even smaller than some of the larger 
Lions of the present day, the series of speleean remains not presenting greater contrasts im 
size than those of the recent Lion. And lastly, that there is not one character by which 
the animal can be distinguished from the living Lion. It must therefore be admitted 
that Melis spelea is specifically identical with the Lion now living on the face of the 
earth. And this being the case, it becomes a serious question as to whether the term 
Felis spelea should not be struck out of paleontological catalogues. Since, however, it 
has occupied a space in scientific nomenclature for more than fifty years, it 1s perhaps 
more convenient to term the animal Felis leo, var. spelaa, thus indicating that variety of 
the Lion that inhabited the caves of Northern and Western Europe during the Post-glacial 
epoch. Its range in Britain, and the causes of its extermination in Western Europe, will 
be considered in the next two chapters, and evidence will be adduced that will bring the 
sojourn of the animal in Europe down to a time not far distant from the Christian era. 
