433 



bones already mentioned, M. Cuvier found several belonging to the fox, 

 or to some animal nearly allied to it : and these bones, he believes, are 

 by no means rare in the caverns. 



In the same mass of tufa in which he found the preceding bones resem- 

 bling those of the fox, he found the remains of a smaller carnivorous 

 animal, which he thought were certainly the bones of a martin. The 

 dorsal vertebra, thus found, appeared to agree with those of the zorilla, 

 or the polecat of the Cape an agreement particularly remarkable, 

 since the bones of the hyena of the caverns also bear a strong resem- 

 blance to those of the spotted hyena of the Cape. 



From this concurrence, M. Cuvier Bad been almost led to think, that 

 the analogues of the animals found in the caverns were perhaps to be 

 found at the Cape ; but this notion was entirely set aside by discovering 

 that the fossil pelvis, found among these remains, more resembled that 

 of the polecat of Europe. 



The fossil bones which M. Cuvier found in the caverns, possessing 

 no characters distinguishing them from those of animals still living in 

 the same countries where these remains are found, were those of the 

 wolf or dog. But it is necessary to remark, that this occurs in a genus 

 where the distinction of species, by separate bones, is almost impossible. 

 Daubenton had already remarked the difficulty of distinguishing the ske- 

 leton of a wolf from that of the shepherd's dog of the same size; and 

 M. Cuvier has only been able to remark, that in the wolf the triangular 

 part of the forehead, behind the orbits, is a little narrower and flatter, the 

 sagitto-occipital ridge longer and more raised, and the teeth, particularly 

 the canine, a little larger in proportion shades of difference so slight, 

 as almost to lead to the opinion of the wolf and the dog being of the same 

 species. 



Esper and Rosenmuller describe bones found at Gaylenreuth, which 

 they refer to the wolf. A skull of this kind is in the cabinet of Darm- 

 stadt, and is figured by Cuvier, Ann. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat. Cap. LIV. 

 PL 34. Whichever species these bones belong to, they are found to 



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