152 HYAENA. 



be encrusted with a thick coat of caementum, as happens 

 in aged quadrupeds. 



The Hyaena is associated in the till at Walton with 

 remains of the spelsean Bear and Tiger, the Mammoth, 

 Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, and other Mammalia of the 

 extinct Fauna of the newest tertiary and drift periods. 



Remains of the Hyeena spelaea occur, similarly associ- 

 ated with extinct Pachyderms, in the brick-earth at Erith, 

 which contains extinct and recent fresh- water shells ; and 

 in a corresponding formation, constituting a superficial de- 

 posit, and filling rents that traverse the limestone called 

 Kentish Rag, near Maidstone. 



But the most perfect and abundant fossils of the extinct 

 Hysena have been discovered under circumstances similar 

 to those in which the species was first determined to have 

 belonged to the extinct Fauna of this island, viz. in 

 limestone caves and fissures. 



The cavernous fissures of the limestone quarries at 

 Oreston yielded several specimens of the Hyeena speleea, 

 among which Mr. Clift distinguished at least five or six 

 individuals of various ages; some of them equalling the 

 largest of those found at Kirkdale in 1820. The posterior 

 part of a skull appeared to Mr. Clift of uncommon magni- 

 tude, measuring twice as much from every determinate 

 point to another, as a recent full-grown Hyaena's skull.* 



This specimen has accordingly been referred by some 

 Palaeontologists to the Hyeena speleea major of Gold- 

 fuss, which M. de Blainville regards with much reason 

 as a variety of the common extinct spelaean species ; 

 merely adding, in reference to the Oreston specimen, 

 a remark which calls for more precise dimensions of the 

 specimens compared. The only recent skull with which 



* Philosophical Transactions, 1823, p. 87, pi. xi. 



