176 FOSSIL IIEMAINS OF QUADRUPEDS, &C. 
discoveries was the skull of a hygena, the only skull known 
to have been obtained ; and he found it lying on the sur- 
face of the mud, and noticed particularly, that the under 
side, which touched the mud, was partially decomposed 
and discoloured, while the exposed part was fresh and 
smooth. I have several specimens illustrating the same 
fact, among which is the well-preserved shank-bone, figured 
in the Geological Survey, Plate XVII. N° 4. ; one side of 
which is smooth, and retains its natural colour ; while the 
other, the flattest side, is rough, cracked, and discoloured.* 
But the argument which Professor Buckland considers 
as the most decisive in favour of his hypothesis, is drawn 
from the discovery of what he considers as album grtEcum^ 
the fecal remains of the hyaenas. I am not without suspi- 
cion, that this substance may be nothing more than con- 
cretions of the comminuted particles of bone, which, by his 
own account, are very abundant in the mud, and which, in 
some spots where much water dropped or flowed, might 
possibly be washed together into small lumps or balls. 
But, granting that this substance is true album grsecum, 
its presence in the cave does not prove that any hyaenas 
ever lived there. Matter of this kind would exist in the 
intestines of the dead hyaenas that were driven about by 
the waters of the Deluge ; and when their carcases, by long 
tossing about, were parted into pieces, this substance, form- 
ing a portion of the masses of animal matter, would be as 
easily drifted into fissures or caves as flesh and bones. Spe- 
cimens of this substance are far from being plentiful. 
Some of Mr Buckland's collateral proofs appear to be 
the off'spring of fancy, rather than the result of accurate 
observation. Such are his notions about the different ages 
* This specimen, witli many others alluded to, may now (1827) be 
seen in the Whitby Museum. 
