270 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Fob. 4, 



narrowness of its anterior as compared with its posterior talon, it 

 approximates to Felis leo. 



The 121 jaws and 342 teeth of Hycena spelcea, the normal inha- 

 bitant of the den, show how numerous those animals were, and for 

 how long a time they inhabited the cave. A selected set of rami 

 shows all the changes in their dentition, from youth to old age. The 

 two oldest have each lost one of their two bone-crushers : the one 

 has lost P.M. 4, and its alveolus is partially filled up ; the other has 

 lost P.M. 3, and its alveolus is completely obliterated by osseous 

 tissue. In the three youngest jaws are seen the stages by which 

 the small deciduous molars were replaced by the large and perfect 

 permanent dentition — the most admirable for crushing bone that 

 could be desired. In one lower jaw of a Hysena in its prime the per- 

 fect dentition of the right ramus is preserved ; both rami were found 

 some feet apart in the bone-layer in the passage B. In a second 

 ramus of an older animal the angle and the greater part of the 

 coronoid process are preserved — the only instance of their having 

 escaped the teeth of the Hyaena. In a third, covered with tooth- 

 marks, the broken M.l has been partially thrust out of its alveolus by 

 the teeth of the animal that devoured its possessor. As, however, it 

 was fortunately exposed on the floor to the calcareous dripping from 

 the roof, it is firmly cemented in its place by stalagmite. Of the 

 upper jaws, also arranged according to age, one shows the perfect 

 premolar series, a second the small true molar which disappears early 

 in the ffi/amidce, a third the diseased stump of P.M. 4. The in- 

 flammation resulting from the fracture of the latter has greatly con- 

 stricted the supraorbital foramen. 



The Canidce are represented by Cards lupus and C. vulpes. The 

 three jaws and two teeth of the latter indicate a size similar to that 

 of the existing species, while the four jaws and three teeth of the 

 former indicate a superiority of size. 



The Melidce are represented by Meles taxus, of which one humerus 

 only was found. This may be of a date far posterior to that of the 

 other remains. 



Of the Ursidce twenty-seven teeth and two jaws were discovered, 

 the larger canines equalling, if not surpassing, in size the largest 

 from Germany ; and the molar teeth, of which one upper molar is 

 larger than any from Gailenreuth or Quinger, in the Bucklandian 

 Collection, belong to the gigantic Cave-bear, Ursus spelceus. A lower 

 canine also indicates the presence of a second species of Bear, 

 U. arctos*. Of the equivocal remains, one jaw is closely allied to 

 that from Bacton in the British Museum f ; and a canine with a thin 

 compressed fang is identical with that figured by Dr. Schmerling as 

 Ursus leodensisX, though slightly larger in every dimension. 



* Comp. Schmerling, op. cit. vol. i. pi. 8. p. 8. In the collection of my 

 friend Dr. Spurrell I recognized a lower canine of U. arctos, from the Crayford 

 gravel-pits. 



f Comp. Owen, Brit. Foss. Mamm. fig. 35 b, p. 106. 



X Comp. Schmerling, op. cit. vol. i. p. 94, pi. 8. fig. 8. Whether U. leodensis 

 is a valid species or not, I can offer no opinion. 



