Note 15 — Chapter II · Food, Cannibalism, Mammals Fish, Hunting, and Fishing.

The felidæ were very numerous in Europe in Quaternary times. We may mention two species of lions, Leo nobilis and Leo spelæus, the latter often confounded with the delis spelæus of such frequent occurrence in French caves, two species of tigers, Tigris Edwardsiana and Tigris Europæa, the largest of the Quaternary felidæ, which was some twelve feet long. We also know of seven species of leopards, six species of cats, from the Serval to a little felis smaller than our domestic cat; two species of lynx, and lastly the machairodus, a beast of prey of considerable size, characterized by having exceptionally long upper canines serrated like a saw. Probably these beasts of prey were not all contemporaries, but succeeded each other. (Bourguignat: “Histoire des Felidæ Fossiles en France dans les Dépôts de la Période Quaternaire,” Paris, 1879.)