£€)S FOSSIL BONES IN CAVERNS IN GERMANY. 



Bones of an 3. The bones of an animal of th? wolf or dog kind ate 



genus cauls. tne hrst I have found fossil, that are no way distinguish- 

 able from those of animals bow inhabiting the surface of 

 the same country : but then it is in a genus, where the dis- 

 tinction of species by separate bones alone is almost im- 

 possible. 



Skeletons of Daubenton has already observed how difficult it is to dis- 



many or tnese . 



not easily dis- tinguish the skeleton of a wolf from that of a mastiff, or 



tujgLiishable. shepherd's dog of the same size. More interested than he 

 in finding out their characteristics, I have studied them 

 longer, carefully comparing the heads of several individuals 

 of these breeds of dogs with those of several wolves. All 

 that I have been able to remark is, that wolves have the 

 triangular part of the forehead behind the orbits a little 

 narrower and flatter, the sagitto-occipital ridge longer and 

 more elevated, and the teeth, particularly the canine, larger 

 in proportion. But these differences are so slight, that there 

 are frequently much greater between individuals of the 

 same species ; and we can scarcely avoid thinking with 

 Daubenton, that the dog and the wolf are the same 

 speecies. 



These noticed The existence of wolf's bones in the cavern of Gaylen- 

 y P er > reuth was announced by Esper in his first work. He gives 

 a portion of the upper jaw, pi. X, fig. a, and three canine 

 teeth, pi. V, fig. 3 and 4, pi. XII, fig. 1. He adds in his 

 second paper, that wolves skulls of the common size ha,ve 

 occurred almost as frequently as those of bears, mixed with 

 those of dogs of the same size, and with others smaller. 



Roscnmueller, Mr. Rosen mueller too observes, that bones of the wolf 

 kind occur at Gaylenreuth in the same state as those of 

 the bear, and that they were deposited there at the same 

 period. 



and Fischer. Mr. Fischer has sent me the drawing of one of these 



wolf's heads taken from Gaylenreuth, and preserved in the 

 collection at Darmstadt. It is more likely the head of a 

 wolf than of a dog by the elevation of the sagitto-occipital 

 ridge : but if we may trust to the drawing, the face is not so 

 long in proportion to the skull as in the common wolf, and 

 the muzzle not so slender, to speak absolutely. 



I would 



