﻿FELIS SPEL^EA. 143 



CHAPTER XV. 

 Limb Bones of the Whelp. PI. XXII. 



CONTENTS. 

 § 1. Description. j § 2. Measurements. 



§ I. Description. — M. Gervais, in his 'Zoologie et Paleontologie Francaise/ 1 states 

 that M. de Serres and his coadjutors in the work 2 on the fossil mammals of Lunel Viel 

 have figured and described bones as leonine, which he considers to belong to young . 

 Felis spelaa, " before it had lost its milk teeth/' and that Dr. Schmerling had indicated 

 the presence of lion in the Belgian caves "without giving more certain proof of its 

 existence." The bones from Lunel Viel (exclusive of the head) consist of the sacrum, the 

 proximal half of a femur, both of which are figured, and an ulna that is only described ; 

 while those from Belgium consist of a nearly entire pelvis, and a perfect radius and ulna. 

 All these, however, seem to be of by no means so young an age as M. Gervais 

 supposed. In the figures given by M. de Serres 2 and Dr. Schmerling, 3 there is no 

 trace of lines of separation between the sacral vertebrae ; while in a third sacral that passed 

 through our hands, and is now in the Taunton Museum, and which had belonged to an 

 animal very much larger than the average-sized Lion, the anchylosis was not yet completed. 

 It is clear, therefore, that the former must have belonged to older animals than the latter. 

 In our figures also of the radius and tibia (Pis. II, fig. 1, XIX, 1, 1'), the anchylosis is 

 imperfect, so that the proximal epiphysis is lost in each case, although the full size and 

 proportions have been reached. The limb bones from Belgium and Lunel Viel present 

 epiphyses firmly anchylosed to the shaft, and strongly marked muscular ridges, and 

 they therefore belonged to not merely full grown but to tolerably aged animals. 



In Britain we have met with several bones of the spelgean whelp from the caves of 



1 Edition 1859, p. 227. 



2 'Oss. Foss. de Lunel Viel,' pi. viii, figs. 15, 16, p. 107. 



3 'Oss. Foss. de Liege,' torn, ii, pi. xix, figs. 1, 2, p. 90. 



