302 LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



superior size and coloration, but likewise in the structure of its 

 teeth, the hindmost of which approximate to those of the Cats. 

 Although the present habitat of the Striped Hyaena is tropical 

 or sub-tropical, there does not appear any valid reason why the 

 creature should not have been able to withstand a compara- 

 tively cold climate. The Dog tribe, as we might expect, is well 

 represented during the Pleistocene, remains of both the Fox 

 and the Wolf being common in all caverns ; the latter species 

 having, indeed, been exterminated only at a comparatively re- 

 cent date in our islands. More remarkable is the occurrence 

 of the Arctic Fox {Ca?iis lagopiis), the remains of which have 

 been recently identified from a fissure near Ightham, in Kent. 

 The nearest country to Britain where this species now lives is 

 Iceland, and it is certainly very curious to find in the same de- 

 posits remains of animals so widely separated at the present 

 day as are the Spotted Hyaena and the Arctic Fox. Another 

 compatriot of the former species is the Cape Hunting-Dog 

 {Lycaon pkfus), distinguished from the Wolves by the cha- 

 racters of the teeth and the smaller number of toes on the 

 fore feet ; and it is certainly remarkable to find this genus 

 represented by an extinct species from the Glamorganshire 

 caverns. Passing on to the Bears, we naturally expect to 

 find the common Brown Bear, which was only exterminated 

 at a late epoch of the Historic Period, common in the Pleisto- 

 cene ; and in this we are not disappointed, its remains occur- 

 ring not uncommonly in the English caverns as well as in those 

 of Ireland. A large proportion of the ursine-remains found in 

 the brick earths of the Thames Valley have, however, been 

 assigned to the Grizzly Bear ( Ursus Jiorribilis) of North America; 

 but as this form is distinguished from its European ally merely 

 by slight differences in the form of the skull and teeth, we are 

 by no means assured that this reference is well founded. Mark- 

 edly distinct, however, is the gigantic Cave-Bear {U. spelceus\ 



