282 Dr Menard on a Cavern at Lunel- Viel 



extended their researches beyond this; but it is to be hoped, 

 for the interest of science, that they will not stop there. The 

 cavern is 700 yards deep ; we may then expect from the in- 

 terior works an additional mine of geological riches. 



The report » concludes by stating, that it will' be proper for 

 the Academy to request the prefect of the Doubs, and the Mini- 

 ster of the Interior, to have the goodness to give the necessary 

 orders to continue the excavations, and that the Academy should 

 itself propose to defray part of the expence. 



Art. X IV. — Notes regarding a Cavern containing Fossil Bones ^ 

 situated on the property of M. Gautier, in the Commune of 

 Lunel-Viel.* By Dr Alphonso Menard. Communi- 

 cated in a Letter from Mr Exshaw of Bourdeaux to John 

 RoBisoN, Esq. F. R. S. Ed. 



Near the west end of the village of Lunel- Viel there is 

 a quarry of building stones, the working of which has been 

 given up about thirty years, immediately above on the rising 

 grounds which produce the Lunel wine. The villa of M. 

 Gautier is situated on the verge of the quarry, and a part of 

 his garden is laid out in the hollow made by the excavations. 

 There are two principal cavities in the face of the rock. The 

 greatest extends about 130 or 140 metres. It is naturally 

 formed in calcareous masses of shells, coarse and friable, mixed 

 with globular fragments, scattered in abundant beds towards 

 the outer sui-face, and enveloped in a cement of the same 

 nature. 



The floor of the cavern is encumbered by large blocks, 

 which have long since fallen from the roof. The soil is formed 

 by the deposition of an argillo-siliceous matter, spread in distinct 

 layers from one to several inches thick. This sediment, the pro- 

 duce of repeated alluvion, is evidently of posterior formation 

 to the surrounding limestone. It lies above the primitive soil, 

 which is again found at a depth of 10 or 15 feet, and which 

 is a gravelly sand, containing shark's teeth, and remains of sea 

 and river shells. It is in the bed above the last mentioned 

 stratum that we find, in a confused and disorderly manner, a 



* Numerous specimens of the bones accompanied this communication. 

 They are now in the possession of Thomas Allan, Esq. F. R. S. E. 



