32 
ACCOUNT OF FOSSIL TEETH AND BONES 
stance that lay beneath, and give it a steady and fixed position. 
Such seems to have been the process by which the curved fragments 
I allude to, have not only received a partial polish on the convex 
side only, but have been submitted to so much friction, that in 
several instances more than one-fourth of the entire thickness of the 
bone, and a proportionate quantity of the outer side of the fangs and 
body of the teeth, have been entirely worn away. (See Plate V. 
fig. l.) I can imagine no other means than the repeated touch of 
the living hymnas’ feet and skin, by which this partial wearing away 
and polish can have been produced *: for the process of rolling by 
water would have made pebbles of them, or at least would have 
broken off the edges of the teeth and delicate points of the fractured 
extremities of the bone, which still remain untouched and sharp f. 
I have already stated, that the greatest number of teeth (those of 
the hyaena excepted) belong to the ruminating animals; from which 
it is to be inferred that they formed the ordinary prey of the hyaenas. 
I have also to add, that very few of the teeth of these animals bear 
* I have been informed by an officer in India, that passing by a tiger’s den in the 
absence of the tiger, he examined the interior, and found in the middle of it a large por¬ 
tion of stone, on which the tiger reposed, to be worn smooth and polished by the friction 
of his body. The same thing may be seen on marble steps and altars, and even metallic 
statues in places of worship that are favourite objects of pilgrimage : they are often 
deeply worn and polished by the knees, and even lips of pilgrims, to a degree that, with¬ 
out experience of the fact, we could scarcely have anticipated. 
j- It has been suggested that the dropping of water might possibly have produced 
the polish, but this would not have caused the curved teeth and bones to lie with their 
convex side upwards. The latter circumstance may be referred to the hyaenas’ tread; 
and when placed in this position, a repetition of such treading would produce the polish 
in question. I have, moreover, specimens which show that water dropping on these 
bones produced a stalagmitic incrustation on them, instead of polishing or removing any 
portion of their surface. 
