GRAMINIVOROUS ANIMALS RARELY FOUND IN BEARS’ CAVES. 105 
M\ Cuvier states, that the bones found in these caverns are iden¬ 
tical over an extent of more than 200 leagues ; that three-fourths of 
the whole belong to two species of bear, both extinct; the ursus 
speheus and ursus arctoideus *, and two-thirds of the remainder 
to extinct hyasnas f; a very few to a large species of the cat family, 
being neither a lion, tiger, panther, or leopard, but most resembling 
the jaguar of South America: with them is found a species of 
glutton, and a wolt or dog (not distinguishable from a recent species), 
a fox, and polecat. 
It has been said, that in the caves thus occupied, there occur no 
remains of the elephant, rhinoceros, horse, ox, tapir, or any of the 
ruminantia or rodentia, and 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 to animal food; and, when driven 
* I found in the collection of M. Soemmering, whom I visited at Frankfort in 1822, 
the head of a third species of bear, from the cave of Guilenreuth, scarcely distinguish¬ 
able from the head of a common brown bear from North America, which he had 
placed by the side of it for comparison. He had the kindness to lend it me, that I 
might convey it to M. Cuvier at Paris. It was much calcined, and appeared to be of the 
same age with the bones of the extinct species. This head has been since described by 
M. Cuvier in the 4th vol. of his new edition, p. 356 , with engravings of it at plate 27, 
fig. 5 and 6, of the same volume. Though it approaches so closely to the brown bear, 
there are points in which it differs from it; and it is on this variation that M. Cuvier rests 
his opinion, that it is a third species of fossil bear, till now unnoticed, and differing from 
any existing species of that genus. M. Soemmering has called it the Ursus Priscus. 
■f* I am disposed to think that this proportion, as it relates to the hyaenas, is too 
large; for in visiting all the caverns, as well as several collections of bones taken from 
them, in Germany, I could find very few fragments of teeth or bones of the hyaena, 
amidst hundreds which belonged to bears. 
