HYJENA SPEL.EA. 153 



Mr. Clift could compare the Oreston fossil in 1822, be- 

 longed to a small individual of the striped species (Hy&na 

 vulgaris), there being no cranium of the Hyana crocuta 

 in the Hunterian Museum at that period. The following 

 are the dimensions of the Oreston fossil, compared with the 

 skull of the Spotted Hysena. 



Hyaena spelaea. Hyaena crocuta, 



In. Lines. In. Lines. 

 From the summit of the occipital crest to the 



posterior border of the glenoid cavity 60 4 10 



To the upper border of the foramen magnum 34 210 



Greatest breadth of occiput 50 310 



From these dimensions it will be seen, that the largest 

 of the Hyaenas from Oreston did not surpass in size the 

 existing Spotted Hysena of the Cape, more than did the 

 individuals of the extinct species that have been discovered 

 at Kirkdale and Lawford. 



In the portion of the cranium from Oreston, the convolu- 

 tions of the brain have left deep impressions upon the 

 inner surface, and the bony tentorium which divided the 

 cerebrum from the cerebellum is well shewn ; the air-sinuses 

 are seen to have extended from the frontal to the occipital 

 region beneath the sagittal crest ; and to their interven- 

 tion between the outer and vitreous tables of the skull is 

 due the survival, by one of the old cave Hysenas of Mug- 

 gendorf, of an extensive fracture (, ,) which well illus- 

 trates the healing processes in bone. 



I have subjoined an original figure of this unique speci- 

 men, now in the British Museum, and which has been 

 described by Soemmering* and Cuvier.-f- This example 



* Nova Acta Acad. Nat. Cur. xiv. p. 1. tab. 1 et 2. H. fossilis ex antro 

 Muggendorfiano, cujus crista terribili morsu laesa et sanata. 



t " It is," says Cuvier, " that of an old Hysena, which had probably received 

 a violent bite across the occipital crest, either from one of its own species, or from 

 one of the great lions or tigers that coexisted in the same localities, and whose 



