532 
EEPOET ON THE EXPLORATION OE BRIXHAM CAVE. 
and Sanford in considering it proved that II. spelcea is merely “ a variety of the Spotted 
Hyaena of South Africa” *. That it has no relation to II. brunnea or II. striata is at 
once seen from the comparison of the dentition ; but that it necessarily represents the 
third existing species, though highly probable, cannot as yet be said to have been 
absolutely proved f. 
It is rather remarkable that no coprolites of the Hyaena should have been met with 
in the cavern. It is impossible, with the minute care that was bestowed in the explora- 
tion, that such well-marked objects should have been overlooked. Is it possible that 
they had been washed away by currents of water insufficient to remove the more solid 
bones X 
11-13. Ursus. 
Of all the animal remains discovered in the Brixham Cave, those belonging to the 
Bear are by far the most numerous, and in some respects, more especially with regard 
to their distribution, perhaps of the greatest interest. 
In the present, as in almost every instance, of the occurrence of ursine remains in 
caverns, the extreme variation in size and other characters of the different bones and 
teeth is so great as naturally to lead to the belief that they must have belonged to 
more than one species. Without pretending to decide or even to enter at large into 
the very difficult and important question of the distinctions between numerous species of 
Cave-Bears that have been described by authors, I will subsequently point out what 
appears to me to be the amount of evidence afforded by the Brixham-Cave ursine remains 
in favour of the view that they belong to more than one species, but will first say a few 
words with respect to their distribution in the cavern, general condition, &c. 
1. Distribution of the Ursine Bemains . — The number of specimens clearly determined 
is about 350 or 360 ; but besides these there are, in all probability, thirty or forty more 
amongst the as yet undetermined splinters and fragments. It should be remarked, 
however, as in some measure explanatory of this number, that it includes several col- 
lections, each composed of numerous bones of the skeletons of animals of various ages 
found lying together at the same spot. But if we take the number of separate stations 
in which ursine remains, as compared with those of the Reindeer and Hyaena, were met 
with, it will be even still more clearly seen how much those of the Bear predominate. 
The number of stations for each of these animals is : — 
Ursus 71 
C. tarandus 50 
Hyaena 30 
Of the specimens included in the above enumeration, about 116 occurred in the 
Reindeer Gallery, 210-220 in the Flint-knife Gallery, 26 in the West, and only 3 in the 
South Chamber. 
* British Pleistocene Mammalia. Introduction, p. xlii. 
t Further details concerning the cranial and dental characters of the existing Hyaenas will be found in a 
paper published in the ninth volume of the Journal of the Linnean Society. 
