Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London/Volume 33/Note on the Occurrence of the Remains of Hyænarctos in the Red Crag of Suffolk
In the rich collection of Red-Crag fossils gathered together during the course of many years in the neighbourhood of Waldringfield by the Rev. H. Canham, now through the joint liberality of Sir Richard Wallace and Mr. Canham located in the Ipswich Museum, is a very perfect mammalian tooth, which has been placed in my hands for identification. It proves to be the right upper first true molar of an animal of the genus Hyænarctos of Falconer & Cautley.
In the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. xxxiii. No. 129 (Feb. 1, 1877), at p. 133, it is recorded that, at the meeting of the Society held on November 22, 1876, "Mr. Charlesworth stated that he had obtained from the Crag a tooth which had been pronounced by Mr. W. Davies, of the British Museum, to come nearest to that of Hyænarctos among known Mammalia." The tooth referred to by Mr. Charlesworth is now in the collection of Mr. William Reed, M.R.C.S., of York, who has obligingly sent it to me for exhibition to the Society. It is the corresponding upper molar of the opposite side, and so like that of Mr. Canham's collection that, except for being perfectly unworn, it might almost have belonged to the same individual.
Tooth of Hyænarctos from the Red Crag (in Mr. Canham's Collection).
a. Upper surface. The dotted line represents the outline of the complete tooth in Mr. Reed's collection, b. From the side.
The tooth first mentioned is in very fair preservation, being only slightly worn at the prominent apices of the cusps. It has no matrix adhering to it, and is less rolled and waterworn than many of the teeth from the Crag, having a considerable proportion of each of the three roots remaining; whereas these, being composed of softer tissues than the enamel-coated crown, are generally absent, as in Mr. Reed's specimen. On the other hand, considerable portions of the enamel have been chipped off from the inner edge of the crown, while in the latter, which was derived from a younger animal, the crown is absolutely perfect.
Having compared Mr. Canham's tooth with the corresponding one of the original specimen of Hyænarctos sivalensis, Falc. & Cautl., from the Sewalik Hills, now in the British Museum, I can detect no appreciable difference—certainly none which would warrant, in the absence of other evidence, the imposition of a new specific name. The dimensions are identical; and so are the general contours of the margins, and the form and position of the cusps. At first sight a considerable difference is apparent in the outline of the inner edge, as seen when looking down on the grinding-surface; but this arises from the defective condition of the enamel noticed above, portions both of the anterior and posterior angles of the inner border having been lost, and giving the appearance of an angular rather than straight inner margin. The Sewalik animal was older, and the tooth more worn, which may account for the absence, or, at all events, less distinct evidence of the fine striation of the surface of the enamel, in lines converging to the apices of the cusps, which is beautifully seen in both the Crag teeth.
The Sewalik specimen was first described by Cautley and Falconer, in the 'Asiatic Researches,' vol. xix. p. 193 (1836), under the name of Ursus sivalensis; and it is certainly very closely allied to the true bears, though in its dentition somewhat less specialized than the modern representatives of the group. It has no particular affinity with Hyæna, as the name by which it is now generally known might be supposed to indicate. In an unpublished plate of the 'Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis,' executed about 1848, the species is designated Ursus (subgenus Hyænarctos) sivalensis[1]; and the same name must have been used by Falconer and Cautley before that date, as it is quoted in Owen's 'Odontography,' p. 503 (1845), although in 1842 Dr. Falconer objected to Blainville's proposed removal of the animal from the genus Ursus[2]. In 1837 Wagner gave the name of Agriotherium, and in 1841 Blainville both Amphiarctos and Sivalarctos, to Ursus sivalensis; so that, strictly speaking, all of these names have the priority to Falconer's; but, as Gervais remarks, "toutefois le mot Hyænarctos a prévalu." It is adopted in Pictet's 'Traité de Paléontologie,' vol. i. p. 18.
Remains of an animal of the same genus have been found in the Pliocene marine sands of Montpellier, and described and figured by Gervais[3] under the name of Hyænarctos insignis, though the specific distinctions between them and those from the Sewalik Hills are not very striking. As I found by direct comparison in the Paris Museum, the first true molar differs from the Crag teeth in having the two inner cusps more distinctly separated, instead of constituting an almost undivided ant ero-posterior ridge, as they do in the latter and apparently in the Sewalik animal. A smaller species (H. hemicyon) has been found at Sansans, Gers, and a single tooth in a bed, like the last-named, referred to Miocene age, at Alcoy, in Spain[4].
According to Mr. Lydekker[5] a nearly perfect mandible of Hyænarctos sivalensis has recently been discovered by Mr. Theobald, and will be figured in the 'Palæontologia Indica.'
Discussion.
Dr. Murie remarked upon the interest attaching to the wide distribution of this animal, and inquired whether Prof. Flower agreed with Prof. Gervais in adopting the name of Hyænarctos.
The President remarked that the fact of the extension of the genus Hyænarctos into Spain had already been brought before the Society by a Spanish geologist. The question of the age of the remains of Hyænarctos in Asia and Europe was one of great interest. If the family had a great range and the genus also (and great horizontal concurs with great vertical range), then probably Hyænarctos had a very long geological life, and may have survived the great changes which attended the upheaval of the Sewalik Hills.