292 



University of California Publications. 



[Geology 



The species represented by the skull obtained by Dr. Bebb 

 seems to correspond in characters to the great cat described as 

 Felis atrox by Leidy many years ago, from Quaternary beds in 

 the state of Mississippi. This form was evidently one of the 

 largest known species in the group of true cats, and seems to have 

 ranged over at least the southern half of North America. 



In comparing the Rancho La Brea specimen with Leidy 's 

 description and figure of the type of Felis atrox, the writer was 

 very graciously assisted by Mr. Witmer Stone of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, who kindly made an exam- 

 ination of the type with reference to several doubtful points. 



HISTORY OF TYPE SPECIMEN OF FELIS ATEOX. 



In 1853 Joseph Leidy described 1 and figured under the name 

 of Felis atrox a portion of a lower jaw of a very large cat which 

 seems to have been obtained in beds of Quaternary age, near 

 Natchez, Mississippi. Regarding the occurrence of this speci- 

 men Leidy makes the following statement : 



"The specimen belongs to this society (Amer. Philos. Soc), 

 and when first discovered was in company with several frag- 

 ments of bones and a few teeth of other extinct mammalia, with- 

 out labels, but from the condition of their preservation corre- 

 sponding closely to that of some specimens, in several instances 

 of the same animals, contained in the collection of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences, from ravines in the neighborhood of Nat- 

 chez, Mississippi, I have no doubt they were derived from the 

 same locality, and probably constitute the donation entered upon 

 the minutes of the Society, April 1st, 1836, of some fossil remains 

 from the vicinity of Natchez, presented by William Henry Hunt- 

 ington, Esq. " 



The specimens accompanying the large cat jaw in the collec- 

 tion of Mr. Huntington included remains of Mastodon, Bison, 

 and Equus americanus. Other remains found at Natchez in- 

 cluded Mastodon, Megalonyx, Mylodon, Bison, Cervus, Ecjuus, 

 and TJrsus. 



The type specimen consisted of the anterior half of the left 



1 Leidy, Joseph, Amer. Philos. Soc. Trans., New Ser., vol. 10, p. 319. 



