431 



From these characters he is led to think that the fossil hyena had the 

 muzzle much shorter in proportion than the hyena of the Levant, 

 by which it must have bitten stronger ; which is not easy to conceive, 

 since the hyena is known never to quit its hold. The Arabs, when 

 speaking of one obstinate in his opinion, call him the head of a hyena. 

 Calculating the size of the hyena to which the last-mentioned fragment 

 belonged, M. Cuvier believes that it also must have exceeded the common 

 hyena of the Levant one fifth in size. 



The confirmation of these bones having belonged to a species of hyena 

 was obtained by the appearances yielded by the other bones, and par- 

 ticularly by the portion of the humerus and by an astragalus. The dif- 

 ference of species, between the fossil hyena and that of the Levant was 

 also plainly shown by these specimens. 



Besides these remains of the hyena, M. Cuvier obtained, from Gay- 

 lenreuth, the side jaw, with four grinders, very little injured, and the ar- 

 ticular condyle and lower edge quite whole. By comparing this jaw, 

 which was of an aged animal, with that of the hyena of the Levant, it 

 was found to exceed it, in the proportion of three to two. 



There however remained two more living species, with which it was 

 desirable these fossil remains should be compared. The skin of one of 

 these, the hyena of the Cape, being in the Museum, with the teeth pre- 

 served in it, M. Cuvier made a comparison of the teeth, and was very 

 much surprised at finding a precise agreement between the fossil teeth 

 and those of this animal. Consequently, as M. Cuvier remarks, if the 

 fossil hyena has its analogue in this world, it is to be sought, for in the 

 hyena of the Cape. 



He then proceeds to observe, that it is hardly necessary to mention 

 that the resemblance between the teeth does not absolutely prove the 

 perfect identity of the species, and that there might be differences be- 

 tween the skeletons, and even between the integuments. But even ad- 

 mitting this identity, in what a new labyrinth are the geologists placed ? 



It has been hitherto said that the fossil elephant is of the Asiatic spe- 



