101 
Old bones are proverbially dry, but even they, by the aid of the 
sister sciences of Comparative Anatomy and Paleontology, give 
strange and startling revelations of creatures that lived ages ago, 
and dying left their bones to testify how vastly different our County 
must have appeared when inhabited by such denizens as the great 
* hairy mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, cave lion, and hyaena. Our 
peaceful downs, could they speak, would tell of vast droves of 
rather small but hardy horses, not unlike the half-wild forest 
ponies of the present day ; of the dainty browsing of whole herds 
of deer, of a small, short-horned ox, and a shaggy-maned bison ; of 
the stillness of the night, broken by the terror-inspiring roar of a 
hungry lion, or perchance the hideous discord of a pack of savage 
hyaenas, quarrelling over some half-putrid carcass of a young rhino¬ 
ceros, making the air re-echo with their peculiar yells—that 
strange, half-human expression of savageness and mirth ; of 
winters of intense cold, when even the hardy reindeer and musk 
buffalo found it difficult to procure food sufficient to support life, 
and gladly availed themselves of the miniature stacks of hay col¬ 
lected in the summer by the provident little marmots. 
In glancing over the many bones found at Fisherton, one has 
been forcibly struck with the fact that the same divine and benefi¬ 
cent law, which at the present day prevents the injurious increase 
of any one race, must have obtained also in those remote ages. The 
too rapid extension of the herbivora , or vegetable feeders, was kept 
within proper limits by the presence of the very formidable carni¬ 
vora, or flesh eaters. Nor was this all, for upon careful examination 
it will be seen that amongst the former the great bulk of the bones 
belong either to the very young or old individuals, in both cases indi¬ 
cating that it was the weak, sickly, and comparatively useless members 
that were sacrificed for the benefit of the strong and healthy. Let 
not, then, old bones be despised ; they can teach us all this and 
very much more—let them speak for themselves, they are eloquent 
as any Egyptian hieroglyphics, and like them require some little 
time and careful study to . translate, yet always fully repaying the 
student for any such outlay of time and trouble. 
1. Cave lion ( Felis spelcea ), portion of lower jaw, right side, with 
last molar tooth in situ. Deposited by Dr. Blackmore. 
This specimen proves beyond doubt that in bygone ages a 
veritable “ British lion ” roamed over our plains—a lion that, in 
point of size, exceeded even the largest African or Asiatic species 
of the present day. Look well at the form of the one remaining 
tooth: how admirably it is adapted to the scissor-like office 
assigned to it, that of dividing the yet quivering flesh of its prey; 
thus scattering to the winds the beautiful and poetic, but false idea, 
of the lion once eating grass like the lamb. 
2. Cave hyaena ( Hycena speloea ), nearly half of lower jaw, left side 
containing one incisor, canine, and three molar teeth. De¬ 
posited by Dr. Blackmore . 
