364 ARCHEOLOGY. 



lacustrian liabitations. furnished the ancient Swiss with by far the 

 greater part of animal food. The size of this animal was extraordi- 

 nary, exceeding in height even our largest horse. 



The elk was also well represented, and maintained itself on the 

 Rhine down to the tenth and eleventh centuries. 



The ibex [Capra ibex) was found only once, notwithstanding the 

 little town of Unterseen, in the canton of Bern, carries the figure of 

 this animal in its coat-of-arms. 



The chamois is also rare, and it is probable that this and the former 

 were brought only occasionally from the mountains down to the less 

 elevated regions. 



The bison (Bos bison) appeared quite frequent all over Switzerland 

 during the stone age, but still more^ common was the auerox (Bos 

 primigenius,) which, during those tinies, long passed, was one of the 

 oldest and most constant inhabitants of Switzerland. He existed 

 there in company with certain pachyderms, whose congeners since 

 have receded to Africa. 



In the schieferkohle (slate coal) of Diirnten (C. of Ziirich) most 

 complete remains of rhinoceros leptorliinus were found, lying side by 

 side with the teeth of Bos primigenius and Cervus elajyhus. While 

 this pachyderm had long ceased to exist in Switzerland, both its con- 

 temporary ruminants held out there until a people arrived which 

 spun and wove the fibre of the flax, and reared and milked the pro- 

 geny of the auerox. 



In the lower beds of the drift which, thirty feet thick, overlies the 

 coal of Durnten, the remains of an elephant are found, which are not 

 only distinct from that represented in the coal, but which never have 

 been discovered lying together upon the same horizon. Higher up, 

 this drift consists of debris of glaciers with remains of marmots and 

 reindeers. Upon an area of but few miles circumference, and within 

 a vertical of only thirty feet, we thus find, first, the auerox associated 

 with Elephas antiquus in the coal of Durnten ; afterwards the 

 auerox and the mammoth, in the diluvium of the valley of the Rhine ; 

 still later reindeers and marmots, of which the one now is removed 

 from twenty to twenty-five degrees northward, and the other has 

 ascended to the more elevated alpine zones. Finally, on the top in 

 the higher situated turf of Robenhausen, the auerox again appears in 

 company with Bos hison and Cervus aJces. 



These are, indeed, extraordinary changes, and it is not improbable 

 that the human species witnessed and suffered under them. 



In regard to birds, reptiles, and fishes, the ancient fauna differs but 

 little from that of our day. It is worth noticing, hoAvever, that from 

 the condition of the bones of the wild swan we must infer that these 

 birds must have been eaten by the ancient Swiss. It also proves that 

 the lacustrine habitations were not mere summer residences, but must 

 have been occupied also during the cold winter season, when the lakes 

 were frozen over, at wliich time alone the swan appeared so far south. 



The rarest domestic animal of palisade age is the dog, wdiich was 

 occasionally eaten, but was used more commonly to assist in hunting. 

 It is a very remarkable fact, however, and important for the history 



