PALAEONTOLOGY 



are the jaws and teeth of the great cave hyaena {Hyaena crocuta spelaa), 

 an extinct race of the living spotted hyasna of south Africa, remains of 

 this animal occurring in the Oreston fissures as w^ell as in Brixham 

 Cave and Kent's Hole. The wolf {Cams lupus) and the fox (C vulpes) 

 have likewise been recorded from the same three localities, but the 

 badger {Meks meles) appears to be known only from Kent's Hole and 

 Brixham, and the otter {Lutra lutra) from Kent's Hole alone. Remains 

 of the polecat {Mustela putorius) have been identified from Brixham 

 Cave and Berry Head, and those of the stoat (M. erminea) from Kent's 

 Hole, Berry Head, a raised beach near Plymouth, and possibly Oreston. 

 The polecat has been stated to occur also in the Plymouth raised beach, 

 but it is not certain that the remains have been rightly identified. Of 

 the brown bear (Ursus arctus) teeth and jaws occur in the Oreston, Brix- 

 ham and Kent's Hole deposits ; and remains from the same three locali- 

 ties have been assigned to the North American race of the same species 

 commonly known as the grizzly, but the identification is somewhat doubt- 

 ful. The great extinct cave bear {U. spelceus) appears to have shared 

 the accommodation afforded by Brixham Cave and Kent's Hole with 

 the cave hyasna, or perhaps the bears may have used each of these caves 

 as a den at one time and the hyjenas at another. 



Among the smaller mammals, jaws of the greater horseshoe bat 

 [Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum) have been discovered in Kent's Hole, and 

 those of the common shrew {Sorex araneus) in Kent's Hole and Brixham 

 Cave. Remains of the field vole [Microtus agrestis) have been identified 

 from Kent's Hole ; those of the water vole {M. amphibius) from Brixham, 

 Kent's Hole and Oreston ; and those of the bank vole {Evotomys glareolus) 

 from Kent's Hole and Brixham Cave. The mouse {Mus musculus) has 

 been recorded from Kent's Hole, but it does not seem certain that its 

 remains are not of later date than those of the other mammals ; and the 

 same remark, as already said, will apply to those of the rabbit {Lepus 

 cuniculus), which occur in Brixham Cave and Kent's Hole. The same 

 two caves have yielded remains of the common hare {L. europaus), and 

 of the little pica or tailless hare {Ochotona pusilla)^ a species now unknown 

 in Britain. 



Turning to the hoofed or ungulate mammals, of which the remains 

 were probably in most cases dragged into the caves by hyasnas and bears, 

 although carried by water into the Oreston fissures, we have evidence of 

 the great extinct wild ox or aurochs {Bos taurus primigenius) at Oreston, 

 Brixham and in Kent's Hole. The Pleistocene bison {B. priscus) does 

 not appear to have been recorded from either of the two caves named, 

 although its remains are said to occur in some cavern deposits in the 

 county. The so-called Bison minor, named by Owen in his British Fossil 

 Mammals and Birds on the evidence of a leg-bone from Oreston, is 

 identical with the Celtic shorthorn already mentioned. Deer are repre- 

 sented by the red deer {Cervus elaphus) and the extinct giant fallow deer 

 or ' Irish elk ' (C. giganteus) in Brixham Cave and Kent's Hole, by the 

 roe {Capreolus capreolus) at Brixham, and the reindeer {Rangifer tarandus) 



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