Sir Roderick’s examination of Russia has, in short, proved that _the ichthyolites and mollusks which, in Western Europe, are separately peculiar to smaller detached basins, were here (in the British Isles) cohabitants of many parts of the same great sea_. EXTINCT CARNIVOROUS ANIMALS OF BRITAIN. Professor Owen has thus forcibly illustrated the Carnivorous Animals which preyed upon and restrained the undue multiplication of the vegetable feeders. First we have the bear family, which is now represented in this country only by the badger. We were once blest, however, with many bears. One species seems to have been identical with the existing brown bear of the European continent. Far larger and more formidable was the gigantic cave-bear (_Ursus spelæus_), which surpassed in size his grisly brother of North America. The skull of the cave-bear differs very much in shape from that of its small brown relative just alluded to; the forehead, in particular, is much higher,--to be accounted for by an arrangement of air-cells similar to those which we have already remarked in the elephant. The cave-bear has left its remains in vast abundance in Germany. In our own caves, the bones of hyænas are found in greater quantities. The marks which the teeth of the hyæna make upon the bones which it gnaws are quite unmistakable. Our English hyænas had the most undiscriminating appetite, preying upon every creature, their own species amongst others. Wolves, not distinguishable from those which now exist in France and Germany, seem to have kept company with the hyænas; and the _Felis spelæa_, a sort of lion, but larger than any which now exists, ruled over all weaker brutes. Here, says Professor Owen, we have the original British Lion. A species of _Machairodus_ has left its remains at Kent’s Hole, near Torquay. In England we had also the beaver, which still lingers on the Danube and the Rhone, and a larger species, which has been called Trogontherium (gnawing beast), and a gigantic mole. THE GREAT CAVE TIGER OR LION OF BRITAIN.