78 MR. G. BUSK ON THE ANCIENT OR 



well-defined anterior talon to the first, second, and third premolar, which is larger, 

 however, as, in fact, are all the talons, in H. striata. In //. striata and H. hrunnea the 

 second and third premolars are placed with their long axis oblique to the line of the 

 alveolar border, and the third premolar is obliquely truncated behind, whilst in 

 H. crocuta this tooth is square behind. 



The opening of the nares is rounded in H. crocuta, and more or less pyriform in 

 H. striata and brunnea, in which also the anterior palatine foramina are very much 

 larger in proportion. Dr. Wagner further adduces the form and size of the auricular 

 bulla as distinctive marks. In H. crocuta this part is much more developed than in 

 ff. striata (and to a less extent in H. brunnea) ; and its posterior wail is convex or flat, 

 whilst in H. striata and brunnea it is more or less concave. The extremity also of the 

 mastoid process is compressed in both those species and rounded in H. crocuta. 



According to Dr. Wagner the occipital crest curves more backwards in H. striata and 

 brunnea than it does in H. crocuta, in which it does not project beyond the level of the 

 condyles. 



In my paper above referred to, and also in that of Dr. Wagner, several other points in 

 the conformation of the skull and face in which differences are observable are adverted 

 to ; but as these for the most part refer to parts that are deficient in the Gibraltar speci- 

 men, there is no occasion here to repeat them. 



It will perhaps be simply necessary to indicate that in all the main points above noticed 

 the Gibraltar cranium and teeth exhibit the characters of H. crocuta as distinguished 

 from H. striata and brunnea. 



1. The form of the upper camassial, in which the posterior cusp forms about half the 

 length of the tooth ^. 



2. The minuteness, if not absence, of a tubercular molar. 



3. The squareness of the hinder border of pm. 3 . 



4. The expansion of the auricular bulla, and the convexity of its hinder wall, and the 

 roundness of the mastoid process. 



5. The uprightness of the occipital plane and the wavy outline of the lateral ridges 

 by which it is bounded. 



6. And, as distinguishing it more particularly from M. brunnea, the rotundity and 

 fulness of the parietal region of the skull. 



These considerations, together with the comparative dimensions given in the Table, 

 and those of the teeth, as shown in the odontograms (PI. XXVII. Nos. 1-5) of the 

 maxillary molar dentition of the Gibraltar Hycena contrasted with those of H. sjjelcea, 

 H. crocuta, H. brunnea, and H. striata, will sufficiently demonstrate the identity of the 

 Gibraltar Hycena with H. crocuta and H. siielcea, which may be regarded, perhaps, as 

 specifically the same. 



' This will be better eeen in the figure, Plate I., than in the specimen itself in its present state, the tooth 

 having sufferod injury since the drawing was made, by which the greater part of the enamel has been 

 detached. 



