Mr. Lyell's Address, 403 



from 500 to 1000 feet above the adjacent plains, some of the loftiest 

 peaks being 3000 feet above the level of the sea. 



When Captain Cautley and Dr. Falconer first discovered these 

 remarkable remains their curiosity was awakened, and they felt 

 convinced of their great scientific value ; but they were not versed in 

 fossil osteology, and being stationed on the remote confines of our 

 Indian possessions, they were far distant from any living authorities 

 or books on comparative anatomy to which they could refer. The 

 manner in which they overcame these disadvantages, and tlie en- 

 thusiasm with which they continued for years to prosecute their 

 researches when thus isolated from the scientific world is truly ad- 

 mirable. Dr. Royle has permitted me to read a part of their cor- 

 respondence with him when they were exploring the Siwalik moun- 

 tains, and I can bear witness to their extraordinary energy and per- 

 severance. From time to time they earnestly reqiiested that Cuvier's 

 works on osteology might be sent out to them, and expressed their 

 disappointment when, from various accidents, these volumes failed 

 to arrive. The delay perhaps was fortunate, for being thrown en- 

 tirely upon their own resources, they soon found a museum of com- 

 parative anatomy in the surrounding plains, hills, and jungles, where 

 they slew the wild tigers, buffalos, antelopes, and other Indian qua- 

 drupeds, of which they preserved the skeletons, besides obtaining 

 specimens of all the genera of reptiles which inhabited that region. 

 They were compelled to see and think for themselves while com- 

 paring and discriminating the different recent and fossil bones, and 

 reasoning on the laws of comparative osteology, till at length they 

 were fully prepared to appreciate the lessons which they were 

 taught by the works of Cuvier. In the course of their labours they 

 have ascertained the existence of the elephant, mastodon, rhinoceros, 

 hippopotamus, ox, buffalo, elk, antelope, deer, and other herbi- 

 vorous genera, besides several canine and feline carnivora. On some 

 of these Dr. Falconer and Captain Cautley have each written sepa- 

 rate and independent memoirs. Captain Cautley, for example, is the 

 author of an article in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, in which he 

 shows that two of the species of mastodon described by Mr. Clift 

 are, in fact, one, the supposed difference in character having been 

 drawn from the teeth of the young and adult of the same species. I 

 ought to remind you that this same gentleman was the discoverer, 

 in 1833, of the Indian Herculaneum or buried town near Behat, 

 north of Seharunpore, which he found seventeen feet below the sur- 

 face of the country when directing the excavationofthe Doab Canal*. 

 But I ought more particularly to invite your attention to the 

 joint paper by Dr. Falconer and Captain Cautley on the Sivatherium, 

 a new and extraordinary species of mammalia, which they have mi- 

 nutely described and figured, offering at the same time many pro- 

 found speculations on its probable anatomical relations. The cha- 

 racters of this genus are drawn from a head almost complete, found 



* Journ. of Asiatic Society, Nos. xxv. and xxix. 1834. Principles of 

 Geology, 4th and subsequent editions. See Index, Behat. 



3F2 



