192 The Rev. Mr. Buckland’s account of Fossil Teeth and 
died in early life from accident or disease. It seems more 
probable, and the idea is confirmed by the above statement of 
Mr. Brown, and by the fact of the hyaenas’ bones in the den 
being gnawed and broken to pieces equally with the rest, 
that they were occasionally killed and devoured by the 
stronger individuals of their own species. 
But, besides the evidence their teeth afford to show that 
the animals died at various periods of life, they present other 
appearances (and so likewise do the bones), of having passed 
through different stages and gradations of decay, arising 
from the different length of time they had lain exposed in the 
bottom of the den, before the muddy sediment entered, which, 
since its introduction, has preserved them from farther de- 
composition. This observation applies equally to all the ani- 
mals. I have portions of bone and teeth that are so much 
decomposed as to be ready to fall to pieces by the slightest 
touch ; these had probably lain a long time unprotected in the 
bottom of the den ; others still older may have entirely pe- 
rished ; but the majority both of teeth and fragments of bone 
are in a state of the highest preservation ; and many thou- 
sands have been collected and carried away since the cave 
was discovered. In all cases the degree of decay is equal in 
the teeth and jaw bones, or fragments of jaws, to which they 
are attached. 
In many of the most highly preserved bones and teeth, 
there is a curious circumstance, which, before I visited Kirk- 
dale, had convinced me of the existence of the den, viz. a 
partial polish and wearing away to a considerable depth of 
one side only ; many straight fragments of the larger bones 
have one entire side, or the fractured edges of one side rubbed 
