﻿2 PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



duced by diluvial action, and were not contemporaneous with the associated bear 

 and hyaena bones. The earlier writers were disposed to doubt the identity of the 

 canine bones found in caves with those of living species. Thus Goldfuss, who in 

 1810 had figured 1 the skull of a wolf from Miiggendorf, when describing thirteen 

 years later 2 (1823) a wolf's skull from Gailenreuth, regarded it as specifically dis- 

 tinct from Ganis lupus. 



Cuvier, 3 too (L812 and 1825), was apparently disposed to regard the wolf 

 remains in his possession as specifically distinct from the modern species. He made 

 further comparisons of the skeletal characters of wolves and dogs, and agreed with 

 Daubenton 4 (1758) in recognising the extreme difficulty in distinguishing between 

 the skull of a wolf and that of a dog. 



The first author to express himself decisively as to the identity of the fossil 

 remains of the wolf with those of the living species was Schmerling 5 (1833) in his 

 description of bones from the caverns of Liege. M. de Serres, Dubrueil, and 

 Jeanjean 6 (1839), though not expressing themselves very definitely, attributed the 

 canine bones found in the caves of Lunel Viel to the living species. 



The question as to the specific identity of the recent and fossil species was, 

 however, fully considered by de Blainville 7 (1844), who, in his 'Osteographie,' 

 discussed and summarised all the evidence, strongly supporting the view that no 

 distinction could be drawn between the wolves, dogs, and foxes of the caves and 

 those living at the present day. 



Owen, too, in his ' British Fossil Mammals and Birds ' 8 (1846), in which a full 

 account of the fossil Canidse was given, agreed that " the wolves which our 

 ancestors extirpated were of the same species as those which . . . left their 

 bones in the limestone caverns . . ." 



Since then almost all zoologists who have considered the subject have agreed 

 as to the specific identity of the fossil remains of the wolf with those of the living 

 species, but Pomel (1854) and Bourguignat as lately as 1875 maintained the con- 

 trary view, the latter author retaining the name Ganis speldeus of Goldfuss for the 

 fossil wolves of the caverns. 



Meanwhile the bones of wolf and fox had been described from many British 

 caves, such as Kirkdale (Buckland, 9 1822), where, however, they were very scanty, 



1 ' Die Unigebungen von Miiggendorf ' (Erlangen). 



2 ' Saiigethiere der Vorwelt,' p. 451. 



3 ' Oss. Foss.,' torn, iv, iv, pp. 5—9 (1812), and ibid., ed. 3, torn, iv, pp. 457—467 (1825). 



4 In Buffon's ' Histoire Naturelle,' torn, vii, p. 53. 



5 ' Recherches sur les Ossernens fossiles des Cavernes de Liege,' torn, ii, pp. 22 — 46. 



6 ' Recherches Oss. humatiles des Cavernes de Lunel Viel,' pp. 72 — 74. 



7 ' Osteographie — Carnassiers,' pp. 101 — 104. 



8 ' British Fossil Mammals and Birds, p. 132. 



9 ' Phil. Trans.,' cxii, p. 182. 



