216 The Kent's Hole Machairodus. [April, 



have been master of the cavern during the cave-earth era, 

 but of which no indications whatever have been found in 

 the breccia. 



The conclusion to which the foregoing fa£ts concur in 

 pointing, was confirmed by the incisor found, as already- 

 stated, by the British Association Committee, July 29th, 

 1872. It lay in the uppermost foot-level of cave earth, 

 below the granular stalagmite, and below it were teeth of 

 hyasna, horse, and bear ; in short, the evidence shows that 

 the Kent's Hole Machairodus belonged to the cave-earth, or 

 hyaena period ; and, should any facts hereafter present them- 

 selves proving it to have been a member of the fauna of the 

 Breccia, they will in no way disturb this conclusion, but will 

 simply prove that, like the cave bear, Machairodus latidens 

 belonged to both eras. 



IV. The Place of Machairodus in the Zoological Series. — 

 Remains of animals, all now recognised as belonging to the 

 genus Machairodus, have been found in Italy, Germany, 

 various parts of France, England, Brazil, Buenos Ayres, and 

 the Sewalik hills in India, and have been described under 

 the names of Ursus adtridens, U. etruscus et cultridens, U. 

 cultridens arvernensis, U. adtridens issidorensis , U. depranodon, 

 Felis cultridens, F. adtridens etuariorum, F. megantereon, F. 

 megantereon et cultridens, F. palmidens, Machairodus adtridens, 

 M. latidens, M. palmidens, M. neogaeus, Megantereon brevidens, 

 M. macroscelis, Hycena neogaea, Smilodon populator, Munifelis 

 bonaerensis, Stenodon, and A gnotherium. 



Professor Nestiwas the first to describe the large falciform 

 canines from the Val d'Arno, and in 1824 ne exhibited them 

 to Cuvier, who referred them to the genus Ursus, under the 

 name of Ursus adtridens. In 1828, M. Bravard found a 

 complete skull in Auvergne, with the falciformal canines 

 in situ, and proved that the jaw was like that of the cat's ; 

 hence he proposed that the animal should be called Felis 

 megantereon et adtridens. In 1833, Dr. Kaup, in his descrip- 

 tion of the Epplesheim fossils in the Darmstadt collection, 

 pointed out that the compressed canines had neither the 

 longitudinal grooves nor the two ridges which characterise 

 feline canines, that no carnivorous quadruped had the 

 enamelled crown of the canine so long, or its concave edge 

 so serrated, and that in these respects they resembled the 

 teeth of the Megalosaurus, — an extinct species of gigantic 

 land-saurian, — and he proposed a new genus, Machairodus 

 (sabretoothed) for the extinct species to which they 

 belonged. 



