279—102 INDIAN TERTIARY AND POST-TERTIARY YERTEBRATA. 
the descriptions in the “ Palaeontological Memoirs” were compiled; and as it is 
impossible to determine to how many of the British Museum specimens it was 
intended to apply, it seems best, as far as Dr. Falconer is concerned, that this name 
should be dropped. In plate XXV, of the same volume of the “ Palaeontological 
Memoirs,” one of the Siwalik hyaena skulls is refigured under the erroneous 
designation of Felis cristata. In 1880, Mr. P. * N. Bose, now of the Geological 
Survey of India, described 1 two Siwalik hyaena skulls, and some mandibles, in the 
collection of the British Museum, and assigned them to distinct species, with the 
names of II. sivalensis , Falc. and Caut., and Bose ; and B. felina , Bose. In a 
notice of that paper the present writer 2 compared these descriptions with the teeth 
of three Siwalik hyaena skulls in the Indian Museum, and came to the conclusion 
that certain dental characters, mainly relied upon by Mr. Bose, were not of them- 
selves of sufficient value to justify specific distinction ; the five specimens were 
accordingly provisionally referred to II. sivalensis , Falc. and Caut. ; the authenticity 
of the name not then forming a part of the enquiry. To this notice Mr. Bose 
replied, 3 maintaining his original views, upon which the present writer once more 
advocated his own opinion. 4 The views of Mr. Bose as to the existence of two 
species were mainly based upon the minute size of m. 1 in one species (H. felina ), 
and its large size in the other fll. sivalensisj ; the former being also characterized 
by the absence of pru. 1. The present writer showed that in the former character 
there was such a gradual transition between the different skulls that it was difficult 
to see how they were to be referred to the two species of Mr. Bose. 5 Mr. Bose, 
neglected to avail himself of many of the specimens in the collection of the 
British Museum, which if carefully described, would have established his two 
species beyond all possibility of cavil ; and the dental characters relied upon by him 
in his distinction of II. felina are not the most important, while one of them is 
inconstant. 
Now that an opportunity has been afforded of comparing together' all the known 
remains of Siwalik hyaenas, contained in the collections of the British, Indian, and 
Dublin Museums, it appears that they indicate the existence of certainly four, and 
possibly five species of Siwalik hyaenas; for two of which, the names proposed 
by Mr. Bose are retained, although one of them is somewhat objectionable. 6 
It might at first sight appear extraordinary that so many species of hyaena 
should have formerly existed contemporaneously in India, but when the large number 
of species of Proboscidia and other ungulate forms that existed at the same time, 
is recalled to memory, it is perhaps only what might have been expected to find 
the genera of the Carnivora equally strongly represented in species. 
i “ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,” vol. XXXVI, p. 128, et seq. 2 “ Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind.,” vol. XIV, p. 62. 
3 Ih \j y p. 266. 4 Ibid, vol. XV, p. 28. 
5 It is unnecessary to refer to certain mutual misunderstandings in regard to the identification of the specimens. 
6 The writer now regrets that he published criticisms on Mr. Bose’s work, without first seeing the original specimens on 
which it was based. 
