360 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



of the New Faune Francaise, still insist on the identity of the \vild 

 cat of Europe and the domestic animal ; and, should this view of the 

 case ever be substantiated, we shall have to admit at least three wild 

 species for the source of our familiar variety. But the difficulty does 

 not end here. M. Blainville states that, among the numerous series 

 of cat mummies brought from Egypt by the French commission, he 

 has identified not only the F. maniculata, but also the F. chaus, and 

 the F. bubastis, all indigenous African species, and all reduced, in 

 ancient times, to the domesticated state. And I was the more grati- 

 fied at this discovery because I had already observed, in the Chevalier 

 Bunsen's Hieroglyphic Alphabet, three different cats, each possessing 

 a different symbolic value. I do not pretend to have any evidence of 

 hybrid crosses between these animals ; but these and other facts show 

 us that we may yet have to modify some of our zoological impressions 

 from a study of the catacombs and monuments of Egypt. Dr. S. G. 

 Morton. 



ANCIENT REMAINS OP MAN FOUND IN OHIO. 



AT the American Association, Cincinnati, Mr. Charles Whittlesey 

 exhibited two ancient human skulls, and other bones, found in a cave 

 near Elyria, Loraine Co., Ohio ; their position being such as to give 

 them a probable age of 2,000 years. The cavity of the brain in both 

 skulls was entire, showing all the developments. Mr. Whittlesey 

 remarked, that it was evident that both of them belonged to persons 

 of very low intellectual force, having low, narrow, and shallow fore- 

 heads ; and that the animal propensities were largely developed. Prof. 

 Agassiz thinks they belong to the present race of Indians. What ren- 

 ders them worthy of notice is the fact that they are unquestionably 

 ancient ; and if skulls of Indians, it will be proved that that race has 

 long been the occupant of this region. If they are not Indian crania, 

 and belong to another race, it becomes interesting to decide to what 

 race, and thus, whether they belong to the "Mound-builders." 



The position in which these remains were found was in a cave on 

 the banks of the Black River, in the "grindstone grit," about thirty 

 feet above the water. On account of the hard and imperishable nature 

 of the grit, it resists the wearing action of the elements ; and the shale 

 beneath it being soft, there are in consequence numerous caves and 

 sheltered places, where the sand rock projects far over the base. It 

 was in one of these places that the skulls lay, covered by four feet of 

 the accumulated bones and earthy remains of wolves, bears, deer, rab- 

 bits, squirrels, fishes, reptiles, snakes, birds, and other creatures not 

 yet determined. Every shovelful thrown out contained more or less 

 of the bones, teeth, jaws, scales, etc., of animals, until finally, at the 

 bottom, resting on clean yellow sand, the parts of three human skele- 

 tons were found lying in confusion, as though they had perished or 

 been placed there violently, and not by a process of burial. Although 

 the place was perfectly sheltered from the weather, and dry, the bones 

 were so much decayed, and were so porous, that they would scarcely 

 bear their own weight. One of the skulls is evidently that of a female, 



