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pared this identical bone with the sacral bones of all the 
bovine skeletons in the Museum, and from merely having 
an opinion, I became positively certain of my first deter- 
mination of the bone, and equally certain that my specimen 
did not, and could not, belong to a bovine animal. 
In the Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical 
Society of Manchester, October 6th, 1874, p. 6, Professor 
Dawkins states— “ The Cave Bear, or Ursus Spelceus , is also 
stated by Mr. Plant (Manchester Geological Transactions, 
xiii, 180—156) to have been discovered in the Windy Knoll 
fissure, principally on the fancied resemblance which a 
sacrum of a young animal bore to a sacrum in the Peel Park 
Museum, said to belong to TJrsus Speloeus, partly also on 
the stumps of two teeth, worthless for purposes of specific 
identification. I have carefully analysed, this evidence , and 
on composing the sacrum in question with that of the ox 
and bear , I believe that it belongs to a young bison, and 
not to any carnivora. And, further, even if it belong to a 
bear, there is no evidence as to the species, because the 
specific characters of that bone in the fossil bears have not 
yet been ascertained. The researches of Professor Busk, 
during a long series of years, and my examination of the 
most important collections of fossil bears in this country 
and in France, prove that the determination of the species 
is a point of extreme difficulty, and we are only able to 
detect characters of specific value in the heads and dentition. 
On this point I would refer to Professor Busk’s memoir, 
and to the vast collection at Toulouse. The Cave Bear, 
therefore, of Windy Knoll must be given up, as being based 
on a faulty determination.” 
It was a great surprise to me to find Professor Dawkins 
deliberately stating “ that he had compared my specimens 
with the sacral bones of the ox and bear, and that it 
belonged to a young bison and not to any carnivora.” I am 
aware that he is credited with the possession of great 
