Bones discovered in a cave at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire. 221 
wich, in the country of Mark. M. Cuvier states, that the 
bones found in these caverns are identical over an extent of 
more than 200 leagues ; that three-fourths of the whole be- 
long to two species of bear, both extinct ; the Ursus spelaeus 
and Ursus arctoideus, and two-thirds of the remainder to ex- 
tinct hvasnas. A very few to a species of the cat family, being 
neither a lion, tiger, panther, or leopard, but most resembling 
the jaguar, or spotted panther of South America. There 
is also a wolf or dog (not distinguishable from a recent spe- 
cies), a fox and polecat. He adds that, in the caves thus 
occupied, there occur no remains of the elephant, rhinoceros, 
horse, ox, tapir, or any of the ruminantia or rodentia. In 
this respect they differ materially from that of Yorkshire; 
but such variation is consistent with the different habits of 
bears and hyaenas, arising from the different structure of 
their teeth and general organization ; from which it follows, 
that bears prefer vegetable food to that of animals, and, when 
driven to the latter, prefer sucking the blood to eating the 
flesh, whilst hyaenas are beyond all other beasts addicted to 
gnawing bones. 
From this circumstance it is rendered probable, that in the 
caves inhabited chiefly by bears, the bones of other animals 
should be extremely rare. But unless there be an error in 
the statement of M. Deluc (Lettres, vol. iv. p. 588), that a 
tooth found in the cave at Scharzfels was ascertained by M. 
Hollman to be that of a rhinoceros ; and of Esper, that large 
cervical vertebrae of an elephant were found by M. Frisch- 
man in the cave of Schneiderloch ; it follows, that these two 
animals occur, though very rarely, in the caves of Germany, 
and they may have been introduced by the few hyaenas that 
