URSTJS. 9 



forthcoming." With regard to the fourth species, I . etruscus, the evidence for its 



inclusion is even slighter. It was doubtfully included in the list of the Forest Bed 

 mammals by Prestwich in 1872 on the authority of Boyd Dawkins, but the speci- 

 men has not been described or figured. 



During Pleistocene times bears were very plentiful in England, ranging also 

 into North and South Wales, and occurring at a number of localities in Ireland. 

 They do not appear to have been met with in Scotland north of Dumfries. But 

 while very widespread in England, their remains are not, as a rule, so plentiful as 

 those of the hyaena, and they are by no means so abundant as in some parts of the 

 continent, such as the limestone districts of Belgium and Moravia. 



The table of localities on the previous page is based on that of Boyd Dawkins 1 , 

 published in 1869, but the bones of bears have, as was to be expected, been found 

 in several fresh localities since his list was prepared. 



The most noteworthy point about the above list from Pleistocene river deposits 

 is the large number of records of the grizzly bear especially from Ireland, while of 

 the cave bear the records are few and mostly of a doubtful character. Till recently 

 none of the bones found in Irish caves were attributed to the brown bear, but 

 Scharff, who has been unable to recognise valid distinctions between U. arctos and 

 U. horribilis, has applied the former name to the remains of bears from the caves 

 of Kesh, 1 co. Sligo, and Eden vale, 2 co. Clare. An interesting point about the Irish 

 bear-remains is their relatively perfect and uninjured character. Adams suggests 

 that this may be due to the non-occurrence of the bone-crushing hyaena in Ireland. 



The cave bear has been recorded from twenty-six British caves, as compared 

 with seventeen records of the occurrence of the brown, and fourteen of the grizzly 

 bear. Busk considered that the grizzly was more abundant than the cave bear, 

 even in England, and was the only bear met with in Ireland. 



No large and associated series of bones of bears from British localities occurs 

 in any museum comparable with the series of hyaena bones at Taunton ; and the 

 specimens figured are preserved in several collections. I am much indebted 

 to Mr. H. A. Allen, Mr. H. St. G. Gray, Prof. T. Mc K. Hughes, Dr. II. F. Scharff, 

 and Dr. A. Smith Woodward, for facilities in the figuring of specimens preserved in 

 the Museum of Practical Geology, the Taunton Castle Museum, the Sedgwick 

 Museum, the National Museum of Science and Art, Dublin, and the British 

 Museum (Natural History) respectively. 



I wish also to thank Dr. Smith Woodward, Dr. Andrews, and Mr. C. D. 

 Sherborn for help and advice, and Mr. J. Green for the great care and skill he 

 has shown in drawing the plates and figures. 



1 'Quart. Journ. Geol. *<><•./ xxv, 1869, p. 192. 



- 'Trans. Roy. Irish Acad.,' xxxii, B, pt. 4, p. 201. :; [bid, xxxiii, B, pt. 1. p. 43. 



9 



