containmg Fossil Bones. S83 



considerable quantity of fossil bones, which have belonged to 

 animals contemporary with the last great catastrophe which 

 has overturned the globe. AH of them may be ranked with 

 existing species, mostly of Europe, and many of the province 

 itself. 



The opening into the cave is the only one which gives access 

 to its interior. Is about 20 feet below the upper vegetable soil. 



In 1824 the opening was very confined, and gave access 

 only to a small square space hollowed out of the bed containing 

 the fossils. It is not probable that the animals whose remains we 

 are about to describe could ever have taken this way to get to 

 the interior. M. Gautier has caused this opening to be widen- 

 ed and cleared. ' 



In 1825 the process of digging for bones caused some fall- 

 ing in of stuff, in consequence of which access was obtained to 

 the cavern. It is now reached by means of a stair of twenty 

 steps, formed of calcareous blocks. 



When first discovered, the ground was found slightly moist, 

 uneven, and furrowed near the sides to unequal depths. Re- 

 mains of the skeleton of a domestic dog rested on a block of 

 stone ; near it lay a fragment of a leather collar and an iron 

 ring. Here and there also were bones of animals of the order 

 Rodentia (gnawers) which had died at different periods, and 

 several remains of the bony frame of carnivorous mammalia 

 evidently fossil. A small portion of them was covered with 

 irregular crystallizations, which rendered them slightly ad- 

 herent to the ground. All these objects have been destroyed 

 and scattered. 



There was no indication of the cave having been entered 

 by man previous to this period, or of the blocks of stone or 

 the bones having been accumulated by human agency. 



The cave extends from N. W. to S. with some slight bends. 

 The roof appears solid throughout, and towards the middle is 

 arched with a certain degree of elegance. The side walls are 

 irregularly fashioned in unequal projections, sometimes deeply 

 furrowed and penetrated by oblique or vertical chimnies, from 

 which has issued a reddish, soft, argillaceous paste, (a sort of 

 Armenian bole,) of which the upper parts seem exhausted, as 

 it has ceased to flow. 



In some places, and principally at the south end, ^e soil is 



