THE WILD CAT OF EUROPE. 



Al^CESTRAL DESCENT. 



The Wild Cat of Europe, the Felis sylvestris of 

 the earlier naturalists, the Felis catus of Linnseus, 

 the only indigenous representative of the feline 

 family in Britain, derives its ancestral descent in 

 all probability directly from one or both of the 

 species of Cat whose osseous remains have been 

 found in the Pleistocene deposits both in this country 

 and on the Continent, intermingled with the bones of 

 the great Cave-Lion {Felis spelcea), the great Cave- 

 Bear {JJrsus spelceus), the Rhinoceros {B. tichorMnus), 

 the Mammoth, and other gigantic mammals of that 

 period of the Earth's crust. 



These osseous remains consist of : — 



I. A portion of the lower jaw (left mandible) found 

 in the brick-earth of Grays Thurrock (fig. 1), 

 which, according to OwBX (' British Fossil 

 Mammals and Birds '), is undistinguishable 

 from the analogous parts of the still existing 

 species of Wild Cat. 



Eig. 1. Nat. size. 



II. A portion of the right mandible of the lower 

 jaw found in Kent's Hole, Torquay (fig. 2), 

 which is stated by the same authority to 

 accord precisely in colour and composition 



