158 



Lower jaw of young Hyaena, spelcea, % nat. size. Kent's Hole. 



A great proportion of the skeleton of the Hyeena spel&a 

 has now been recovered from the different localities of that 

 extinct species in England. The larger bones of the extre- 

 mities found in Kent's Hole are fractured, as in the Kirk- 

 dale cave ; but the smaller bones, as the astragalus, calca- 

 neum, metacarpals, and metatarsals, are, for the most part, 

 remarkably perfect. They differ from their analogues in 

 the skeleton of the Hyana crocuta chiefly in their larger 

 and more robust proportions : the scapula appears to be 

 rather narrower in proportion to its articular extremity ; 

 the deltoid crest of the humerus is longer and stronger. 



In the numerous specimens of the fossil Hyaena from 

 British localities, which I have examined and compared 

 in public and private collections, I have not hitherto de- 

 tected any characters indicative of a species distinct from 

 the Hy&na spelaa ; the differences observed have been 

 those only of size and dental development, depending on 

 diversity of sex and age. Of that fossil species which is 

 more nearly allied to the Striped Hyaena (Hy&na Mons- 

 pessulana, Christol), no trace has presented itself to my 

 notice. It appears to have been confined to the middle 

 of France, Languedoc, and Italy. Fossil remains of the 

 Hyaena have been discovered by MM. Baker and Durand* 

 in the tertiary strata of the Sewalik Hills ; and, what is 



* Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, vol. iv. 1835, p. 5G9, pi. 46. 



