HYENA SPELAA. 1538 
Mr. Clift could compare the Oreston fossil in 1822, be- 
longed to a small individual of the striped species (//yena 
vulgaris), there bemg no cranium of the Hyena crocuta 
in the Hunterian Museum at that period. The following 
are the dimensions of the Oreston fossil, compared with the 
skull of the Spotted Hyena. 
Hyena spelea. Hyena crocuta. 
In. Lines. In. Lines. 
From the summit of the occipital crest to the 
posterior border of the glenoid cavity 6 0 4 10 
To the upper border of the foramen magnum 3 4 2 10 
Greatest breadth of occiput 5 0 3 10 
From these dimensions it will be seen, that the largest 
of the Hyznas from Oreston did not surpass in size the 
existing Spotted Hyzena of the Cape, more than did the 
individuals of the extinct species that have been discovered 
at Kirkdale and Lawford. 
In the portion of the cranium from Oreston, the convolu- 
tions of the brain have left deep impressions upon the 
inner surface, and the bony tentortum which divided the 
cerebrum from the cerebellum is well shewn ; the air-sinuses 
are seen to have extended from the frontal to the occipital 
region beneath the sagittal crest ; and to their interven- 
tion between the outer and vitreous tables of the skull is 
due the survival, by one of the old cave Hyznas of Mug- 
gendorf, of an extensive fracture (a, a,) which well illus- 
trates the healing processes in bone. 
IT have subjoined an original figure of this unique speci- 
men, now in the British Museum, and which has been 
described by Semmering * and Cuvier.f This example 
* Nova Acta Acad. Nat. Cur. xiv. p. 1. tab. 1 et 2. A. fossilis ex antro 
Muggendorfiano, cujus crista terribili morsu lesa et sanata. 
+ “It is,” says Cuvier, “ that of an old Hyena, which had probably received 
a violent bite across the occipital crest, either from one of its own species, or from 
one of the great lions or tigers that coexisted in the same localities, and whose 
