110 URSID A. 
likewise been found in the dark recesses of caves, which were 
evidently, by their chemical condition, the remains of ani- 
mals recently introduced into such localities, but these are 
readily distinguishable from the true absorbent fossils. 
The most perfect fossil specimen from British localities 
is alluded to by M. de Blainville,* on the authority of Mr. 
Mac Enery, as having been found in Kent’s Hole. It 
is now preserved in the British Museum, and, with the 
obliging permission of Mr. Konig, has been figured for 
the illustration of the present section (fig. 37). It is 
an entire ramus of the lower jaw, with all the teeth cn situ 
except two of the incisors and the second premolar. It 
corresponds precisely in size and shape, and in the forms 
and proportions of the several kinds of teeth, with the 
existing male Badger. The last premolar (p) answering 
to the carnassial or sectorial tooth m the typical Carni- 
vord, has the same large size and complicated crown, and 
the first true molar (m) which terminates the series, has 
the same diminutive size as in the common Badger. 
We may conclude, therefore, that the food, like the 
dentition, of the diminutive plantigrade associate of the 
gigantic Cave Bear and Hyena, must have been the same 
as that of its existing descendant ; and that it must have 
owed its safety from the formidable contemporary beasts 
of prey, to the same cautious concealment and nocturnal 
habits which still continue to preserve the harmless species, 
amidst the more numerous and dangerous class of enemies 
which has arisen from the increasing population of a civi- 
lized country. 
Fossil remains of the Badger have been discovered in 
the cave at Berry Head, Devon. They have been obtained 
on the Continent, hitherto, exclusively from cave localities. 
* Ostéographie de Sub-ursus, p. 47. 
grap p 
