110 URSIDjE. 



likewise been fount! in the dark recesses of caves, which were 

 evidently, by their chemical condition, the remains of ani- 

 mals recently introduced into such localities, but these are 

 readily distinguishable from the true absorbent fossils. 



The most perfect fossil specimen from British localities 

 is alluded to by M. de Blainville,* on the authority of Mr. 

 Mac Enery, as having been found in Kent's Hole. It 

 is now preserved in the British Museum, and, with the 

 obliging permission of Mr. Konig, has been figured for 

 the illustration of the present section (Jig. 37). It is 

 an entire ramus of the lower jaw, with all the teeth in situ 

 except two of the incisors and the second premolar. It 

 corresponds precisely in size and shape, and in the forms 

 and proportions of the several kinds of teeth, with the 

 existing male Badger. The last premolar (p) answering 

 to the carnassial or sectorial tooth in the typical Carni- 

 vora, has the same large size and complicated crown, and 

 the first true molar (m) which terminates the series, has 

 the same diminutive size as in the common Badger. 



We may conclude, therefore, that the food, like the 

 dentition, of the diminutive plantigrade associate of the 

 gigantic Cave Bear and Hysena, must have been the same 

 as that of its existing descendant ; and that it must have 

 owed its safety from the formidable contemporary beasts 

 of prey, to the same cautious concealment and nocturnal 

 habits which still continue to preserve the harmless species, 

 amidst the more numerous and dangerous class of enemies 

 which has arisen from the increasing population of a civi- 

 lized country. 



Fossil remains of the Badger have been discovered in 

 the cave at Berry Head, Devon. They have been obtained 

 on the Continent, hitherto, exclusively from cave localities. 



* Osteographie de Sub-ursus, p. 47. 



