SIWALIK AND NARBADA CARNIVORA. 
143—320 
Genus III. : FELIS, Linn. 
Including Leo, Leopardus , Lynx , Tigris , Uncia, etc., etc. 
Range in time . — The chief dental characters of the genus having been alluded 
to, and as it is unnecessary to give a list of the recent species, 1 while it would be 
very difficult to form a correct one of the fossil species, it only remains to mention 
the distribution in time of the genus. According to Prof. Gaudry 2 the earliest 
known appearance of the genus in Europe is in the mid. miocene of Sansan ; where 
it is represented by F. media , 3 and F. (?) pygmea . 4 5 It is represented in the lower 
pliocene of Montpellier by F. christoli 6 ; and from that stage appears to increase in 
numbers till the recent period, in which it probably attained its maximum. In 
America the earliest species occur in the upper miocene (Loup Fork) 6 ; and the genus 
is henceforth numerously represented. 
Species 1 : Felis cristata, Falc. and Caut. 
Synonyms : Uncia cristata , Cope. Felis grandicristata , Bose. 
Uncia grandicristata , Cope. (?) Felis palceotigris, Falc. (MSS.). 
History. — In 1836 Messrs. Falconer and Cautley published a memoir, 7 illustrated 
by two small-sized figures, 8 on the cranium of a large feline carnivore from the 
Siwaliks, to which they applied the name F. cristata. In the “ Palaeontological 
Memoirs” 9 this memoir is reprinted ;- but by an unfortunate mistake the figure 
of a skull of a Siwalik hyaena is given in illustration. At a later date Mr. Bose 
described 10 another large feline cranium in the British Museum, under the provisional 
name of F. grandicristata , not being sure of its distinctness from F. cristata ; and the 
present writer subsequently expressed his opinion that the two were the same. 11 
According to the “ Palaeontological Memoirs ” 12 it appears that Dr. Falconer was 
latterly inclined to think that there were two species of large Siwalik felines, F 
cristata and F. palceotigris ; but it does not appear to what specimen the latter name 
was intended to apply. The original figure of the superior surface of the cranium 
of F. cristata is given (reversed) by De Blainville. 13 
Type cranium . — The type cranium, obtained by Mr. W. Ewer from the Siwalik 
Hills, and now in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, is represented in 
plates XLI. and XLII. of the present volume. It wants the left zygoma (restored 
in outline), part of the sagittal crest, the auditory bulla, and the crowns of all the 
x Prof. Mivart (“ The Cat ”) gives the number of living species as 48 ; -with some doubt as to the distinctness of one or 
two. 
2 “ Les Enchainements du Monde Animal— Mammiferes Tertiaires,” p. 5. 
3 Lartet, “ Notice sur la Colline de Sansan,” p. 19. 
4 Ibid. 
5 Gervais, “ Zool. et Pal. Franc;.,” p. 219. 
6 Cope, op. cit., pp. 857-8. 
7 “ Asiatic Researches,” vol. XIX., p. 135, et. seq. 
3 Plate XXI., figs; 1, 2. 
9 Vol. T., p. 315. 
10 ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Sop!,’ vol. XXXVI., p. 127. 
U ‘ Records,’ vol. XIV., p. 64. 
12 Vol. I., p. xxi. 
13 “ Osteographie,” Genus Felis, pi. XV. 
