238 STRUCTURE AND ADAPTATION OF TEETH 



of the large collection of bones in the remarkable 

 cavern of Kirkdale. 



During a comparatively recent geological period, 

 when our native land was tenanted by the ele- 

 phant, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros, the tiger, 

 bear, and hyena, this cave had been made the 

 depository of a great quantity of the bones of 

 these and other animals, which were afterwards 

 imbedded in a calcareous deposit or stalagmite. 

 On carefully examining the crushed and splintered 

 fragments, which bore marks of the action of 

 powerful teeth, that acute observer formed an 

 opinion, which was confirmed by the analysis of 

 the coprolites, or fossil excreta, found mingled 

 with the bones, viz., that the cave had been, 

 through a long succession of years, the den of 

 hyenas. 



In the tiger and hyena, we have seen that the 

 true molar is represented in the upper jaw by a 

 tooth of insignificant size, but in the badger, it is 



Fig, 2>h.— Tiger's upper Jaw, left side, the small tooth on the extreme 

 right being the Tubercular Molar, 



the largest tooth in the jaw. It has three tuber- 

 cles, or prominences on its outer edge, and its 



