324 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



originate independently in different fauna; and I take it that the facts you 

 have brought together, are a satisfactory proof that horses, sheep, bulls, and 

 hogs, not distinguishable at present from the domesticated species, were 

 called into existence upon the continent of North America prior to the com- 

 ing of the white race to these parts, and that they had already disappeared 

 here when the new comers set foot upon this continent. But the presence of 

 tapir teeth among the rest, show also that a genus peculiar to South America 

 and the Sunda Islands existed also in North America in those days, and that 

 its representative of that period is not distinguishable from the South Amer- 

 ican species. 



It would be desirable, in this stage of the inquiry, to compare your tapir 

 teeth with those of the species from Central America, which is considered 

 distinct from the Brazilian species. This circumstance leads naturally to 

 the question of the specific identity of all these animals with those now 

 living in the same locality, and with the domesticated species. And here I 

 confess the difficulty to be almost insuperable, or at least hardly approach- 

 able in the present state of our science, when the views of naturalists are so 

 divided as to what are species among the genera bos, ovis, capra. For my- 

 self, I entertain doubt respecting the unity of origin of the domesticated 

 horses. But whatever be the final result of this inquiry, this much is already 

 established by the fossils you have collected, that horses, hogs, bulls, and 

 sheep, were among the native animals of North America, as early as the 

 common American deer, the opossum, the beaver, the musk-rat, etc. 



Fossil Remains of the Horse in Neiv York. At a recent meeting of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History, Dr. A. A. Gould announced, on the 

 authority of Dr. Skilton, of Troy, N. Y., the discovery of a number of teeth 

 of the fossil horse, in Brunswick, Renssalaer County, N. Y., during the trench- 

 ing of a spot of marshy ground. The whole number of teeth obtained was 

 seventeen. 



INTERESTING EXPLORATION OF A BONE CAVERN. 



At the last meeting of the British Association, Leeds, 18">8, Mr. W. Pen- 

 gelly read a paper in the geological section, describing a recently discovered 

 bone cavern at Brixham, near Torquay, which yielded, on exploration, up- 

 wards of 2,000 bones of the rhinoceros, bos, horse, reindeer, cave bear, and 

 hyena, with which were mingled well-marked specimens of the remains of 

 savage men, in the shape of flint-knives and arrow-heads. There is so 

 great a disposition felt, however, in England, as well as in this country, 

 to dislike, upon theological grounds, the obvious consequences of such 

 discoveries, to carry back the life of man upon the earth beyond the re- 

 motest era of any known history or any calculated chronology, that the 

 paper, when read, excited not only its due interest, but earnest discussion. 

 As it is acknowledged to be now no longer possible to separate the remains 

 of man from those of extinct animals, and some new line of defence must be 

 adopted by holders of the old ideas, the effort was made to bring the era of 

 the animals down into the commonly accepted era of mankind. 



Prof. Owen said he was glad that means had been taken for the careful 

 exploration of this cave, but it would be premature to raise any hypothesis 

 until the whole of the facts were before him. He had not seen any of the 

 bones, and, indeed, was entirely indebted for what he knew on the subject 

 to the paper which Mr. Pengelly had read, and he should refrain, therefore, 



