Fossil Banes of Saint- Privat-d ''JUkr. 27T 



therefore called into requisition, and several fragments of bones 

 were exposed to view in a section which was replete with in* 

 struction. It was evident that the animals whose remains were 

 thus found, had lived during a period when the deposition took 

 place of the tufa and scoriae in which they were imbedded ; 

 and that whatever might have been the cause which had in- 

 duced the inhumation, the bones had been afterwards covered 

 over by renewed torrents of basaltic lava. Hence, a sort of 

 geological date was given to the existence of these animals, ad 

 well as to the volcanoes with which they were contemporane- 

 ous. The extraction, however, of the fossil bones Dr Hib- 

 bert found to be a laborious undertaking, as they lay imme- 

 diately under the superimposed mass of columnar basalt, 

 cdready mentioned, which it was not easy to undermine with- 

 out such extensive and even hazardous excavations, as it was 

 not prudent for him to attempt without permission of the pro- 

 prietor of the land. Contenting himself, therefore, with bring- 

 ing away a few interesting specimens, among which was a 

 part of the os femur of an animal of some magnitude, and a 

 portion of bone attached to a piece of slaggy basalt, to which 

 it had adhered while in a fluid state, he was only intent (par- 

 ticularly as he was obliged to immediately cross the Alps of 

 Italy,) that the further search after the animals thus entombed 

 should be entrusted to some individual residing in this coun- 

 try, who, from the local advantages which he would possess, 

 was the best enabled to prosecute with effect an investigation, 

 which was calculated to throw no inconsiderable light upon 

 certain obscure questions that continue to interest geologists. 

 Accordingly, the name of a scientific gentleman, well known 

 for his zeal in this department of science, instantly suggested 

 itself to his mind. To M. Bertrand-Roux, therefore, (now 

 M. Bertrand de Doue,) the very able illustrator of the geology 

 of the Velay, he addressed himself, and not in vain ; as the 

 following memoir sufficiently attests. 



'' In the month of September 1828, Dr Hibbert of the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh, in examining a flow of lava which lined 

 the road from Puy to Sauges, near the village of Saint-Privat, 

 perceived bones of a very great dimension in the volcanic 



