The British Lion is no myth. Two species of the genus Leo existed in England long after the glacial epoch. In one of these the canine teeth, so conspicuous in dogs and cats, were enormously developed; and their sharpness and curved form has suggested for the animal the name by which it is known, the Sabre-toothed Lion. Strange to say, the only portions of its anatomy hitherto discovered in this country (in Kent's Cavern) have been some of these very teeth; but on the European continent, as well as in the Himalayas, skulls have been found, as well as canine teeth, the latter varying in length from six to eight inches. If we may judge of the proportions of this beast from the size of its teeth, it must indeed have been a monster. It was a contemporary of the extinct bears and larger herbivorous quadrupeds, but could never have been numerous. Indeed, had it been as common as the existing African and Asiatic Lion is in many inhabited parts of these continents at the present day, neither primæval nor savage man could have held his ground against it. The other species of British Lion was both taller and stouter and had broader paws than its modern representative, otherwise the latter would be regarded as a degenerate descendant of the older race.
There is no sufficient reason for believing that such animals as the Lion, Elephant, or Rhinoceros did not frequent cold regions. The short-haired Tiger of Bengal is replaced by a woolly-haired Tiger in northern China; and in the frozen soil of Siberia discoveries of entire carcases of Elephants and Rhinoceroses clad in dense fur coats prove the exception to the general rule with reference to the outer covering of their living representatives. The fossil Lion, like the large fossil Bear and Hyæna, was long considered to be distinct from any living species, but recent discoveries and comparisons have indicated the closest relationship between the living and the dead. Vestiges of the Lion have been discovered in nearly twenty British caverns, as well as in the deposits of rivers; associated in the former case with remains of Bears, Elephants, Rhinoceroses and other herbivorous animals, as well as with Hyænas. In fact, the Lion was one of the earliest sojourners in the land after the glacial period had commenced to decline.
A Leopard or Panther, apparently not larger than existing species, also roamed over England in company with the preceding.
