of an animal hitherto unknown in Britain, in a fissure that penetrates
the Permian limestone of Pleasley Yale, termed the Yew-tree Cave.
They were associated with the remains of wolf, fox, roedeer, and
other animals. " No confident opinion, founded on the position of
the bones on the floor of the cave, could be formed as to their relative
ages, as the dribbling of water through the loose stones of the
floor carries away and displaces the mud and objects imbedded in
it "*. The geological age, therefore, of the remains in the cave cannot
be determined with absolute certainty. So far as the internal
evidence goes, they may be of Prehistoric or even of Historic date,
with as great probability as Postglacial; but, nevertheless, there
are two circumstances which render the latter hypothesis the most
tenable. The Tichorhine Rhinoceros, Mammoth, and Bison have
been found in a cave in the neighbourhood ; and therefore Postglacial
mammals occupied that district. In the second place, the carnivore
in question must have crossed over into Derbyshire while Britain
formed part of the mainland of Europe, or, in other words, during
the Postglacial epoch ; for it is impossible to suppose that it could
have invaded our island from France or Germany during Prehistoric
times, and that it should have been brought over by the care of man
is most unlikely. I have therefore felt justified in considering it a
member of the Postglacial Fauna, although direct evidence is wanting.
It is undistinguishable from the Lynx inhabiting Norway at
the present day.
Order Carnivora, genus Machairodus, species Machairodus latidens, Owen. The fact that, out of all the numerous localities in which the remains of fossil mammals have been found in Britain, Kent's Hole Cavern alone should have furnished traces of this most formidable Pliocene carnivore, inclined the late Dr. Falconer to doubt its having been found in that cavern†. The canines on which the species is founded are four in number, and are preserved in the British Museum, and in those of Oxford, the College of Surgeons, and the Geological Society. Their mineral condition and the colour of the adherent matrix are identical with those of the Kent's-Hole fossils ; and the manuscripts of their discoverer, the Rev. J. MacEnery, published in 1859‡, prove, beyond all doubt, that the Cultridens (= Machairodus) was found in the cave along with "Elephants, Elks, Horses, Hyaena, and myriads of Rodentia." The teeth in question also can be satisfactorily traced from the MacEnery collection to the museums in which they are preserved : those in the British and Oxford Museums were purchased and presented by Dr. Lovell Phillips ; that in the Museum of the College of Surgeons was presented by Lord Enniskillen, for whom, most probably, it was purchased by Dr. Battersby; while that in the Museum of the Geological Society was presented by Mrs. Cazalet, along with other remains from the cave. The incisor figured by Prof. Owen in the
- British Association Report, Nottingham, 1866, paper read before Section C.
† Palaeontological Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 549.
‡ Cavern Researches, by the late Rev. J. MacEnery, F.G.S. ; edited by E. Vivian, Esq. 8vo, pp. 32, 33.
