Bones discovered in a cave at Kirkdale , in Torhhire. 1 87 
is usually earthy and compact, resembling steatite, and some- 
times granular ; when compact, it is interspersed with mi- 
nute cellular cavities : it was at first sight recognised by the 
keeper of the Menagerie at Exeter Change, as resembling, both 
in form and appearance, the fasces of the spotted or Cape 
Hyaena, which he stated to be greedy of bones, beyond all other 
beasts under his care. This information I owe to Dr. Wollas- 
ton, who has also made an analysis of the substance under dis- 
cussion, and finds it to be composed of the ingredients that 
might be expected in faecal matter derived from bones, viz. 
phosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, and a very small pro- 
portion of the triple phosphate of ammonia and magnesia ; it 
retains no animal matter, and its originally earthy nature and 
affinity to bone, will account for its perfect state of preservation. 
I do not know what more conclusive evidence than this can 
be added to the facts already enumerated, to show that the 
hyaenas inhabited this cave, and were the agents by which 
the teeth and bones of the other animals were there collected ; 
it may be useful therefore to consider, in this part of our en- 
quiry, what are the habits of modern hyaenas, and how far 
they illustrate the case before us. 
The modern hyaena (of which there are only three known 
species, all of them smaller and different from the fossil one) 
is an inhabitant exclusively of hot climates ; the most savage, 
or striped species, abounds in Abyssinia, Nubia, and the ad- 
jacent parts of Africa and Asia. The less ferocious, or 
spotted one, inhabits the Cape of Good Hope, and lives prin- 
cipally on carrion. In bony structure the latter approaches 
more nearly than the former to the fossil species : to these 
M. Cuvier adds a third, the red hyaena, which is very rare. 
