ORDER CARNIVORA. 1 447 



Messrs Scott and Osborn, the hallux was well developed, there is a 

 distinct line in the scapholunar indicating the boundaries of the 

 scaphoid and lunar, and the femur has a third trochanter ; the two 

 last-named features being regarded by the above-mentioned author- 

 ities as inherited from a Creodont ancestor. 



Turning to the true Cats we have, among existing forms, the 

 Hunting-Leopard of India, forming the genus Cyncelnrus, which is 

 distinguished by its non-retractile claws : it may be represented 

 in the Pliocene of India. All the other "Cats" may be included 

 in the genus Fells, although some writers have proposed to split 

 it up into several genera. This genus is spread over the temperate 

 and tropical regions of the greater part of the globe. Although 

 there are five digits in the manus, the hallux of the pes is reduced 

 to a rudiment of its metatarsal ; the scapholunar has lost all 

 trace of its primitive duality; and the third trochanter has like- 

 wise disappeared from the femur. The dental formula is usually 



•3 j 5 j 



I. -, C. -, Pm. £, M. - ; but in some instances there are only two 



3 1 2 1 



upper premolars, and occasionally there are three lower premolars as 

 an abnormality. The upper carnassial (j> s , fig. 1331) has three 



Fig. 1331. — Left lateral view of the dentition of the Lion (Felis led). Reduced. z"3, 3d In- 

 cisor ; c, Canines ; p 1 -/ 3 , 2d, 3d, and 4th upper premolars ; 711, True molars ; p 1 , p 2 , 3d and 4th 

 lower premolars. 



lobes and a small inner tubercle ; while the corresponding lower 

 tooth (ibid., m) has no inner cusp or hind talon, although the latter 

 is represented by a minute tubercle in the Lynxes. In Europe this 

 genus makes its first appearance in the Middle Miocene of France, 

 and in North America in the Upper Miocene or Lower Pliocene 

 Loup-Fork beds. 



In the Pleistocene of Europe we meet with remains which cannot be 

 distinguished specifically from the existing Lion, although the fossil form 

 has been named F. speltza. Remains of the Leopard (F. ftardus) also 



VOL. II. 2 N 



