OF CREATION. 



315 



In our own island the nature of the more abun- 

 dant bones and teeth, the condition of the bones of 

 the neck, and various other causes, tend to prove that 

 a large species of hysena, more nearly allied to the 

 South African species than to that of Egypt and Asia 

 Minor, but still very distinct, was the almost exclusive 

 tenant of these caverns. Some of them, however, and 

 by far the greater number of the very similar caverns 

 on the Continent, were occupied by a large species of 

 bear, equalling, or even exceeding in size, the grisly 

 bear (Ursus ferox), and well known to fossil collec- 

 tors under the name of Ursus spelaus, or cavern 

 bear. 



Fig. 134 



JAW OF CAVERN BEAR. 



The great cavern hysena belongs to a tribe now 

 confined to warmer climates; and, while exhibiting 

 all the peculiarities of structure belonging to its genus, 

 this fossil animal was much larger and more for- 

 midable than either of the nearest allied species, both 

 of which are inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Like the living hysenas, there can be no doubt that 

 the extinct species fed on any kind of animal food, 

 living or dead, that came within their grasp. They 

 obtained their prey chiefly or entirely at night ; their 



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