' British Fossil Mammals,' fig. 70, and reproduced by M. Gervais as
a British specimen, cannot now be traced, and therefore cannot be
admitted in evidence of the existence of Machairodus in Britain.
Dr. Falconer inclines to the belief that the Machairodus latidens was
specifically identical with the M. cultridens of the Val d'Arno ; but
since the remains are so very fragmentary, and since they are indisputably
broader in proportion to their length than the Italian specimens,
it is safer to preserve Prof. Owen's name in the English
nomenclature.
Order Ruminantia, family Cervidae, species Cervus megaceros, Hart. There seems to be no reason for exchanging the name Cervus megaceros, proposed by Dr. Hart * in 1830, for that of Megaceros hibernicus, proposed by Professor Owen in 1843, since no difference of even subgeneric value has been adduced to separate it from the great genus Cervus†. It is identical with the Cervus giganteus of M. Gervais, and the C. euryceros of Dr. Falconer.
Order Ruminantia, family Cervidae, species Cervus tarandus. Cervus tarandus, L., includes Cervus priscus, Cuv., C. guettardi, Cuv., and C. Bucklandi, Owen‡, which have been proved, by the large series of antlers from Gower§ and the Mendip caves, to be merely varietal forms assumed by the antlers of one and the same species.
Order Ruminantia, family Cervidae, species Cervus elaphus. The fragment of Cervine antler from Kent's Hole, on which Prof. Owen founds his species Strongyloceros speloeus, cannot be differentiated, save by its slightly larger size, from the corresponding portion of the antler of the Red Deer. It forms one extreme of a series passing from the largest fossil to the smallest living antler, and therefore cannot be said to indicate a new Cervine species. The right lower ramus, figured (fig. 195) as Cervine, and ascribed to Strongyloceros speloeus ?, is proved, by the large development of the accessory column in the true molars 1 and 2, to belong not to a Cervine but to a Bovine species. In the absence, therefore, of evidence to the contrary, Strongyloceros speloeus is included under Cervus elaphus, L.
Order Ruminantia, family Ovidae, species Ovibos moschatus. The Musk-Sheep, more commonly called, from its size, the Musk-Ox, has been proved by M. Lartet¶, De Blainville**, and myself†† to have nothing in common with the ox or buffalo tribe, save its large size. The name, therefore, Ovibos moschatus, proposed by De Blainville in 1816, and indorsed by the high authority of Sir John Richardson‡‡, must be accepted instead of the name Bubalus moschatus pror-
- A Description of the Skeleton of the Fossil Deer of Ireland. 8vo. 1830.
† Owen, Report of British Association, 1843, p. 237; Brit. Foss. Mammals, p. 445.
‡ Cuvier, Oss. Foss. tome iv. pl, vi. figs. 14-17, pl. vii. fig. 11. Owen, Brit. Foss. Mammals, p. 485, fig. 200.
§ Falconer, Palaeontological Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 525.
|| Brit. Foss. Mammals, p. 469, fig. 193.
¶ Comptes Rendus, tome lviii. p. 26.
- Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 81.
†† Essay on Ovibos moschatus, in the possession of the Royal Society.
‡‡ Zool. H.M.S. ' Herald,' 1852.
