148 HY;ENA. 



to have been described in the striking quotation which Dr. 

 Buckland has given from Busbec : 



" Sepulchra suffodit, extrahitque cadavera portatque ad 

 suam spehmcam, juxta quam videre est ingentem cumulum 

 ossium humanorum veterinariorum et reliquorum omne ge- 

 nus animalium." 



No heaps of bones, however, were found on the outside 

 of the Kirkdale cave, as described by Busbec on the out- 

 side of the Hyaenas' dens in Anatolia ; such evidences of 

 the old inhabitants must have been dispersed by the geo- 

 logical force which has left more conspicuous and lasting 

 traces of its operation in the Vale of Pickering. 



It is a most interesting and remarkable fact, and one of 

 which Dr. Buckland has ably availed himself in support 

 of his explanation of the causes of the accumulation of the 

 fossil bones in the cave at Kirkdale, that the remains of the 

 Hyaenas which occur in the unstratified drift or diluvial 

 gravel show no marks of gnawing or fracture, like those 

 on the cave bones. An entire under jaw, a radius, and 

 ulna, of a very old and large Hyaena, which were asso- 

 ciated with the remains of the Mammoth and extinct 

 two-horned Rhinoceros, at Lawford, near Rugby, were in 

 the highest possible state of preservation, and, " supplied, 

 says Dr. Buckland, the only link that was deficient to 

 complete the evidence I wanted to establish the Hyaena's 



d'Hyenes, y ont et6 apportes par elles, et -nullement par inondations." 

 Ost6ographie des Hyenes, p. 76. Since, however, it is incontestable that Hyaenas 

 devour and digest the bones of other Mammals, we must suppose them capable of 

 digesting the dentine and cement of teeth, which substances form so large a pro- 

 portion of those organs, and are so closely similar to bone in physical and chemical 

 properties. With regard to the enamel in the Coprolites, Dr. Buckland expressly 

 states that it was undigested. No doubt, Hyaenas do not feed upon teeth ; but 

 to render such an objection valid against Dr. Buckland's interpretation of the 

 coprolitic fossils of Kirkdale, it ought to be shewn that the modern Hyaenas, 

 before they proceed to crunch the head of a deer or sheep, are careful to extract 

 all the teeth. 



