Yol. 59.] 



OSSIFEROUS CAVERN AT DOVEHOLES. 



115 





03 



O 

 ft 





w 



i 





Eight tibiae of Felidas. 



§* 





■P 



-i-j 



^ .0 



(Measurements in 

 millimetres.) 



^3 



s s 



'MM 



1—1 



J 3 



J'csi 



O s 





* 



&H 





"*; 



&s 



Minimum circumference 



102 



122 



77 



82 



I 



84 ' 



Transverse measurement of distal 















50 



77 



53 



49 



59 



Vertical measurement of distal 



articulation 



33 



49 



31 



31 



33 i 





The specimen of F<?fo's spelcea from Sandford Hill, mentioned in 

 the above table, is of unusual size. Another specimen from Bleadon 

 Cave is much smaller, having a minimum circumference of 100 mm., 

 and thus linking together the fossil with the living lions. The 

 specimen from Doveholes falls naturally into this series, and may 

 be referred to the only large feline species found in the cavern, the 

 Machairodus. The distal articulation is slightly worn, and the outer 

 edge which bore the facet for the fibula has disappeared. The bone 

 bears unmistakable marks {a in fig. 1 of PI. XI) of the teeth of 

 Hyaena, probably of one or other of the species found along with 

 Macliairodus in Auvergne and Italy. 



A right radius is also referable to the same species. It presents 

 the characteristic rounded proximal articulation of Felis spelcea and 

 the existing lion. It is, however, more slender than the former 

 variety. It is 260 millimetres long, as compared with 323 and 354 

 of recent lion, in the University Museum, Oxford. Its distal articu- 

 lation has been broken away. 



A fragment of the shaft of a femur may also be referred to the 

 same- species. It also, like the tibia described above, bears unmis- 

 takable marks (a) of the teeth of Hycena. (See PL XI, fig. 4.) 



(b) Hycena. 



A fragment of left ulna, 11 1 millimetres long, without olecranon 

 or distal articulation, has the deep fossa for the reception of the 

 tuberosity just below the head of the radius, characteristic of 

 the Hysenidse. It is larger and stouter than the corresponding 

 bones of Hycena spelcea. It may probably be referred to one or 

 other of the hyaenas found along with Macliairodus in the Pliocene 

 of Prance and Italy, such as H. arvemensis of Croizet & Jobert. 

 This bone bears the teeth-marks of Hycena, which here, as in 

 hysena-dens of Pleistocene age, made no distinction between the 

 bones of its own and of other species. 



