286 Dr Menard on a Cavern containing' Fossil Bodies. 



markable from its small size, and for the number and shape 

 of its teeth. 



Of gnawing animals, (Uodentia,) there is a species of hare, 

 which, (judging from a head which has been found) is smaller 

 than that of our hills and plains. 



Of the rhinoceros we possess only a fragment of an upper jaw 

 with three grinders attached, separate teeth mostly broken, a 

 broken humerus and femur, and some astragali, which their 

 peculiar hardness has preserved from destruction 



Boars'" tusks of 11 and 12 inches long, (Fr.) bespeak a 

 powerful animal. Others, on the contrary, only 2 or 3 inches 

 long, show, by the marks of use, that they belonged to indivi- 

 duals which had attained maturity. 



A horse's head is remarkable for its large proportions, and 

 for its teeth of uncommon size, 



We have found several foreheads of deer with the antlers, 

 which could not be removed entire, on account of their ex- 

 treme fragility ; some teeth, some long bones, and skeletons 

 almost entire ; they belong to the Cervics elaphus, L. 



An under shell of a land tortoise, 7 inches long by 4 wide, 

 preserves nothing but its shape, its polish and natural appear- 

 ance being gone. Near it were found several fragments of the 

 upper shell of the same animal. 



It will be observed from what precedes, that our collection 

 does not contain any of those large antediluvian animals de- 

 scribed by M. Cuvier, and which are found in many other 

 natural cavities. AVe have no indications of the great Saurians, 

 the mastodon, not even of the tapir or the elephant, which are 

 common in other places. This collection, however, does not 

 the less deserve to fix the attention of the naturalist. 



I conjecture that, at a very distant epoch, the rising grounds 

 of Lunel-Viel were covered by vast forests. I shall be allowed 

 this hypothesis, which is deducible from circumstances in the 

 primitive constitution of our vegetable soil. All the animals 

 of which we find the remains may have lived on the skirts or 

 in the interior of these forests. It is true that the lion, the 

 hyena, and rhinoceros, no longer inhabit Europe ; but the con- 

 siderable collections of their bones which are found in France, 

 in Germany, and in England, seem to at|;est their having for- 

 merly existed there. All these animals die where they have 



