GEOLOGY. 351 



summarily stated. The ancient floor of the cavern was covered with the 

 remains of the hyena, bear, and campagnol the two latter occupying its 

 opposite extremities, the former occupying the remainder and the centre 

 and the upper gallery. The great body of the cavern was occupied by the 

 hyena; while, in addition to the remains of its own species, which perished 

 by a natural death, there were found remains of its prey, accompanied by 

 other evidences of the conversion of the cavern by hyenas into a favorite 

 den, resembling that of Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, so well explored and de- 

 scribed by Dr. Buckland, in his Reliquiae, Diluviance. 



In addition to these animal remains, the upper portions of the stalagmite 

 floor have yielded abundant replies of man; viz., in the lowest of the more 

 modern deposits, innumerable flint spears and arrow-heads ; then pottery, 

 beads of opaque glass, human crania and teeth; w T hile, finally, sun-baked 

 urns, fragments of breastplates, heaps of shells, and pins and bodkins of 

 bone, indicate the visits of Britons perhaps Romanized Britons. 



FOSSIL CETACEAN IN VEEMONT. 



At the Springfield meeting of the American Association for the Promotion 

 of Science, 1859, Mr. Edward Hitchcock, Jr., exhibited the remains of a 

 fossil whale, found in Charlotte, Vt., in August 1849, during an excavation 

 for the Rutland and Burlington railroad. It was found in blue clay, lying 

 from ten to fourteen feet below the surface, the head almost four feet higher 

 than the tail. The Irishmen who discovered it, supposing it to be the bones 

 of a horse, wantonly broke many of them, and particularly the head. 

 Enough of the head, however, was saved to show the two spiracles, or 

 blow-holes, which are characteristic of the cetaceans. Nine conical teeth 

 were also found, which were considerably worn, showing that it was not a 

 young animal. Of the fifty, or perhaps fifty-two vertebrae which belong to 

 the genus Beluga, forty -one were found. The caudal vertebra?, particularly 

 the last ones, are flattened horizontally, giving another indication of the 

 whale family. The total length of the vertebral column, including the in- 

 tervertebral cartilages, must have been one hundred and thirty-seven inches; 

 and this, with the head and caudal fin, must have made the animal about 

 fourteen feet in length. 



Of the five cheek-bones which belong to the Beluga, only one is missing, 

 and two of them are perfect. The ribs are very badly broken, though at 

 least four are perfect. Their whole number was twenty-six. This Whale is, 

 without doubt, of the genus Beluga; and the specific name Vermontana, 

 was given it by the late Prof. Z. Thompson, of Burlington, Vermont, as 

 commemorative of the State where the remains were found. 



In connection with the above statement, Sir "\Villiam Logan, of the Canada 

 Survey, remarked, that the remains of a similar skeleton had been found 

 near Montreal, in a clay pit, which was dug for the purpose of making 

 bricks, fifteen feet below the surface. They were found associated with five 

 species of marine shells, and also with some plants and pieces of wood. 



OX THE COMPOSITION OF THE SOMBKERO GUANO. 



At a recent meeting of the Philadelphia Academy, Dr. Leidy called-attention 

 to the large number of turtle bones included in the masses of the so-called 

 Sombrero Guano, which significantly pointed to the origin of the rock, im- 

 ported as a manure rich in phosphates, from the island Sombrero, "\Y. I. 



