MK. G. BUSK ON THE EXISTING SPECIES OE HYAENA. 77 



(b) The form of the coronoid process more resembles that of S. 

 striata, but its anterior edge is more reclinate than in that 

 species. 



Now, are the differences between the two forms A and B 

 sufficient to determine their specific distinction ? and if not, how 

 are such apparently important differences to be accounted for ? 



I am inclined to think that the former part of this question 

 should be answered in the negative, and that a tolerably satis- 

 factory reply can be made to the second. 



The first thing that strikes one is, that the three animals which 

 have been taken as types of form A have all died after long con- 

 finement in menageries, into which they were probably brought 

 when young, and, it may be, before the second dentition was com- 

 pleted. In all three the teeth, as a dentist would observe, are in 

 a " shocking state," and in fact the greater part of them are 

 either entirely wanting or in such a condition as to have been 

 nearly unserviceable. It is quite impossible that animals in this 

 condition could have maintained themselves in the wild state. 

 Accompanying this condition of the teeth, the jaws will be found 

 to present considerable evidences of morbid action, having the 

 texture of the bone porous, and in fact in a state of interstitial 

 atrophy ; and their softened or yielding consistence may be seen, 

 more especially in Dr. Buckland's specimen, in the abrupt ex- 

 pansion of the alveoli on each side of the mandible and, in less 

 degree, of the maxilla. We can thus account for the compara- 

 tively greater width of the jaws. In like manner I think all the 

 other diff'erenees, including even that which is observed so re- 

 markably in the size of the tympanic bullae, but more certainly 

 in the degree of development of the sagittal crest and other pro- 

 cesses for muscular attachments, may be attributed to the un- 

 natural mode of life, and perhaps also in some degree to the pre- 

 ternaturally prolonged existence of the caged animals. The most 

 difficult point to get over, as it seems to me, is the absolutely 

 smaller size of the individual teeth. "We cannot of course sup- 

 pose that these would diminish in size (except by wear) after 

 they were once fully extruded ; and the only explanation I can 

 offer of this circumstance is, that the animals may have been 

 brought into confinement at an early age, and that the permanent 

 teeth had become in some measure interrupted in their develop- 

 ment, in consequence of the altered conditions in which they 

 were placed. These considerations will at any rate serve to show 

 how dangerous it is to rely upon conclusions drawn from the study 



