Vol. 5] 



Merriam. — Ft lis A trox. 



299 



tubercle in the Rancho La Brea specimen. The crown of this 

 tooth is generally somewhat lower than in the lion, and in F. 

 spelaea, and in this respect resembles the tiger. 



Both superior carnassials are considerably broken on this 

 specimen, but the form is well shown (fig. 3) on a. loose tooth 

 (no. 12501) obtained in the same deposit. This tooth is about 

 comparable to that of the Recent tiger, excepting that the antero- 

 external prominence in front of the protostyle is not as well 

 developed as in the tiger, and the crown is not quite as low. 



M ] seems to have been distinctly two-rooted on one side of the 

 skull, and the roots were nearly separated on the other side. 



Inferior Dentition. — The elements of the inferior cheek tooth 

 dentition of the specimen have fortunately been preserved intact. 

 The inferior canines and all of the incisors but the left I., have 

 disappeared. 



The space occupied by the inferior incisors is relatively 

 small, being only a little greater than in a Recent African lion 

 skull of much smaller size. The roots of the incisors remaining 

 stand in a line which is bowed backward rather sharply com- 

 pared with the slightly curved transverse line of the incisors in 

 the lion and tiger. 



The inferior canines have a greater anteroposterior diameter 

 compared with that of the inferior earnassial than in the lion, 

 but are smaller in comparison with the upper canines. 



The diastema is relatively a little shorter than in the Recent 

 lion and tiger, but is not as short as in one of the specimens of 

 F. spelaea figured by Dawkins and Sanford. 4 



In P 3 the postero-internal portion of the cingulum is more 

 strongly swollen laterally than in the lion and tiger. P 4 re- 

 sembles quite closely the form of this tooth in the African lion, 

 excepting that the anterior and posterior cusps are perhaps a 

 little more compressed laterally and are less acute. The proto- 

 conicl is approximately triangular in cross-section, the inner angle 

 of the triangle extending down to the cingulum as a rather 

 prominent ridge. 



Mj corresponds in relative size and proportions quite closely 



♦ British Pleistocene Mammalia, pi. 1. 



