1 2 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 



lately identical with those of the Bear which still 

 exists in many parts of the European continent at all 

 events indicate only a variety.* 



In Britain, says Professor Boyd Dawkins, the Bear 

 survived those changes which exterminated the cha- 

 racteristic post-glacial mammalia, and is found in 

 the prehistoric deposits both in Great Britain and 

 Ireland, and is of considerable interest, because it is 

 the largest of the post-glacial carnivores which can be 

 brought into relation with our history. A nearly 

 perfect skull from the marl below the peat in Manea 

 Fen, Cambridgeshire, and now in the Woodwardian 

 Museum, Cambridge, has been described and figured 

 by Professor Owen, who has also described portions 

 of another skull from the same locality. In 1868 

 Dr. Hicks found remains of the Brown Bear in peat 

 at St. Bride's Bay ; and numerous bones and teeth 

 of this animal have been discovered at various times 

 in Kent's Cavern, Devonshire. 



The exploration of the Victoria Cave, near Settle, 

 revealed the fact that the Brown Bear afforded food 

 to the Neolithic dwellers in the cave, who have left 

 the relics of their feasts and a few rude implements 

 at the lowest horizon ; the broken bones and jaws 

 of this animal lying mixed up with the remains of 

 the Bed-deer, Horse, and Celtic Shorthorn.t 



Nor are we without direct testimony that the 

 Bear was killed by the hand of man during the 

 Roman occupation of Britain. In the collection of 



* Owen, " British Fossil Mammals," p. 78. 



f Boyd Dawkins, Pop. Sci. Review, 1861, p. 247. 



