The western hemisphere at the present day contains none of the very large species, the Puma and Jaguar being the largest; but this was not true of the Pleistocene, where a huge cat (Felis †atrox), surpassing the Lion in size, ranged over the southern half of North America. Enormous cats also lived in the lower Pliocene and upper Miocene of the Great Plains region, but are not sufficiently well known for reference to either subfamily.
Fig. 271.—Skull of Puma (Felis concolor). p. 4, upper carnassial. The upper molar is concealed.
The history of the true felines has been but partially deciphered, and can, as yet, be traced back only to the middle Miocene, the genus †Pseudælurus representing the series both in Europe and North America. In this genus the dental formula was nearly the same as in Felis, but there was frequently an additional small premolar in the lower jaw and the sectorials were more primitive, the upper one having the accessory anterior cusp in a merely incipient stage and in the lower one there was a vestige of the heel. The upper canine was considerably longer than the lower, thinner and more blade-like than in Felis, which, so far as it goes, is in favour of Dr. Matthew’s theory ([p. 541]). What little is known of the skull and skeleton of †Pseudælurus agrees with the modern cats.
Fig. 272.—Left manus of Domestic Cat (Felis domestica, after Jayne). The horny claws are left in place, covering the ungual phalanges.
While it is not feasible to trace the series of true felines to an earlier stage than the middle Miocene, there can be no doubt that the subfamily was derived from the same stock as the †machairodonts and it is probable that the White River †Dinictis nearly represents the common starting point for both series; the resemblances between †Dinictis and such primitive dogs as †Daphœnus are suggestive of a common origin.
3. Procyonidæ. Raccoons, etc.
An almost exclusively American family of Fissipedia is that of the raccoons, which includes not only the latter (Procyon), but also the coatis (Nasua), curious animals, with long, flexible, pig-like snouts, the cacomistles (Bassariscus) and kinkajous (Potos). In addition to these American forms, there is an outlying Asiatic genus, the Panda (Ælurus) of the southeastern Himalayas, the last of a series which goes back to the European Pliocene.