﻿FELIS CAFFER. 181 



CHAPTER XXI. 



The Smaller FELIDtE. 



PLATE XXIV. 



§ 1. Introduction. § 2. Felis caffer. 



§ 3. F. catus. 



§ 1. Introduction. — The remains of the smaller Felidae have long been known to exist 

 in the Pleistocene Caves and river deposits in Great Britain, France, Belgium, and 

 Germany, and have for the most part been referred without any minute analysis of their 

 characters to the common Wild Cat of Europe {F. catus, L.) M. Marcel de Serres 1 and his 

 colleagues figure one lower jaw from the Cave of Lunel-Viel, and Dr. Schmerling 2 another 

 from the Caves of Liege, which are larger than any well-authenticated lower jaw of Wild 

 Cat which has passed through our hands. The former ascribe their specimen to the Felis 

 /era, by which they probably mean the common Wild Cat, while the latter assigns his 

 to the 'Felis catus magna' regretting at the same time his lack of recent specimens with 

 which to compare it. The measurements of the depth of jaw given in the ' Ossemens 

 fossiles de Lunel-Viel/ p. 120, show that the jaw figured in PI. IX belongs to the same 

 animal as that figured by Schmerling, while those given by the latter do not agree with his 

 own Plate, the confusion being probably caused by the substitution of height for 

 thickness. 3 



The smaller feline remains which we have examined from the Caves of Great Britain 



'<:■■ ! '.. 



1 Marcel de Serres, ' Oss. Foss.de Lunel-Viel,' p. 120, pi. ix, figs. 12, 13, and 17. 



2 Schmerling, 'Oss. Foss. de Liege,' vol. ii, p. 88, pi. xviii, figs. 13, 14,23, 24. 



3 In the text these measurements are — 







M. 



INCH — ENG. 



Hauteur de la machoire devant la premiere molaire 



• 0) 



0-007 



= 0-027 



la derniere 



• (2) 



0-008 



= 0031 



In the figures they are — .... 



• (1) 



0012 



= 0- 55 





(2) 



0*013 



= 0- 51 



The other measurements exactly agree with the figure. 



