I 873-l Th e Kent's Hole Machairodus. 217 



Besides the upper tusks, Kaup was acquainted with those 

 of the under jaw, which are comparatively very small ; and, 

 not thinking that they belonged to the same animal, as- 

 signed them to another genus, which he named Agnotherium* 



Dr. Lund, digging in the bone caves of Brazil, found joints 

 of toes and molars which he thought those of a hyaena, and 

 described them under the name of H. neogaea in 1839 5 sub- 

 sequently, being convinced by the singular tusk that the 

 animal belonged to a distinct genus, he made it known 

 under the name of Smilodon populator. His Smilodon, how- 

 ever, was the Machairodus. 



In 1846, Professor Owen, describing the Kent's Hole 

 Machairodus, says, " In this extinct animal, as in the 

 Machairodus cultridens of the Val d'Arno, and the M. 

 megantereon of Auvergne, the canines curved backwards, in 

 form like a pruning-knife, having the greater part of the 

 compressed crown provided with a double-cutting edge of 

 serrated enamel ; that on the concave margin being con- 

 tinued to the base, the convex margin becoming thicker 

 there, like tiie back of a knife, to give strength. Thus, 

 each movement of the jaw, with a tooth thus formed, com- 

 bined the power of the knife and saw, whilst the apex, in 

 making the first incision, acted like the two-edged point of 

 a sabre. The backward curvature of the full-grown teeth 

 enabled them to retain, like barbs, the prey whose quivering 

 flesh they penetrated. . . . One of the largest of the 

 canines of the Machairodus cultridens from the Val d'Arno 

 measures 8*5 inches in length along the anterior curve, and 

 1*5 inches in breadth at the base of the crown. The largest 

 of the canines of the Machairodus from Kent's Hole measures 

 six inches along the anterior curve, and one inch two lines 

 across the base of the crown ; the English specimens are 

 also thinner or more compressed in proportion to their 

 breadth, especially at the anterior part of the crown, which 

 is sharper than in the M. cidtridens. These differences are 

 so constant and well marked as to establish the specific dis- 

 tinctness of the large British sabre-toothed feline animal; 

 for which, therefore, I propose the name of Machairodus 

 latidens [broad-toothed, sabre-toothed.]"* 



It is obvious that Professor Owen acquiesced in separating 

 the animals under discussion from the typical Felidce, that 

 he adopted the generic name of Machairodus proposed for 

 them by Professor Kaup, and that he regarded the Kent's 

 Hole form as specifically distincl: from that of the Val 

 d'Arno. The last decision was objected to by the late 



* Brit. Foss. Mam., p. 179, 181. 

 VOL. III. (N.S.) 2 F 



