| Notice and Review of the Reliquiae Diluvianae. 161 
_ The hyenas’ bones were as much fractured as ‘hose of 
ether animals, and many of the splinters bore the marks of 
teeth of the size and form of those belonging to the hyz- 
na. ‘The teeth and bones of this animal were usually found 
to have belonged to individuals very old. or very young ; 
while the bones and teeth of the other animals, did not in- 
dicate age, but appeared to have belonged to animals that 
perished in the vigour of life and by violence. These cir- 
cumstances lead to the conclusion, that the hyenas not on- 
ly dragged into the cave and devoured the bones of the 
other animals, but also occasionally made a prey of their 
young, to satisfy the cravings of hunger since the number 
of the teeth of the young hyznas, is much too great to 
be attributed to those individuals that might die by acci- 
dent or disease. 
These conclusions derive additional strength from the 
habits of living hyzenas. There are but three species of 
this animal known to exist ; and all of these differ from 
the fossil species. ‘They belong to a genus, intermediate 
between the cat and the dog, and are greedy of putrid flesh 
and bones, often in hot climates following armies and dig- 
ging up human bodies from the grave. They drag the 
carcasesof all sorts of animals to their dens, and accumulate 
the broken fragments of the bones around their retreats. 
The power of their jaws is enormous, and when they at- 
tack the dog, they “ begin by biting off his leg at a single 
snap.” They are extremely greedy of bones, and after 
Mr. Buckland’s work was written, he by accident saw an 
experiment performed, that lends strong confirmation to 
his suppositions concerning the Kirkdale remains. Let it 
be given in his own words. 
‘¢ Since this paper was first published, I have had an op- 
portunity of seeing a Cape hyana at Oxford, in the travel- 
ling collection of Mr. Wormbell, the keeper of which con- 
firmed in every particular, the evidence given to Dr. Wol- 
laston by the keeper at Exeter Change. I was enabled 
also to observe the animal’s mode of proceeding in the de- 
struction of bones: the shin bone of an ox being presen- 
ted to this hyzna, he began to bite off with his molar teeth 
large fragments from its upper extremity, and swallowed 
them whole as fast as they were broken off. On his reach- 
ing the medullary cavity, the bone split into angular frag 
Vou. VII.—-No. 1. QI 
