CAVE DEPOSIT GIDLEY. 283 



minks, martens, horse, tapir, deer, and possibly a large species of 

 antelope, big as an ox, which seems to be closely related to the eland 

 now living in Africa. The exact relations of this antelope, however, 

 can not at present be stated with certainty, owing to the fact that 

 two jaws, carrying the cheek-teeth and a few scattered teeth and 

 foot bones constitute all the remains now known of it. These differ 

 but slightly in character from the corresponding parts of the eland, 

 with which they were compared and this is why it was provisionally 

 referred to the African genus. A more complete knowledge of the 

 American animal may show that it belonged to an unknown group 

 which is now extinct. Other extinct forms belonging to two or pos- 

 sibly three genera are related but are not ancestral to the living pec- 

 caries. The peccaries of the present day are considerably smaller in 

 size and are confined in their habitat to tropical and subtropical 

 America. 



Many of the species in the collection are represented by bones 

 of numerous individuals. Some of these are recognized by only a 

 few jaw fragments containing teeth ; others by numerous bones, 

 including more or less complete skulls, jaws and other parts of the 

 skeleton; while in all the assemblage only a single animal, and that 

 belonging to one of the extinct species of peccaries, is represented 

 by a nearly complete skeleton (see pi. 6). 



Most of the big bones and skulls of the larger animals were found 

 broken, and with few exceptions all bones were scattered and in- 

 discriminately mixed throughout the mass of clay and cave breccia. 

 This condition of deposition may be readily understood, when the 

 character of the cavern as it formerly existed is studied. As al- 

 ready stated the fossil-filled chamber, before the railroad cut ex- 

 posing it to view was made, reposed at a depth of at least x 100 feet 

 beneath the surface of the ground, with which it was connected by a 

 small and more or less irregular opening leading almost directly up- 

 ward, as indicated in the illustration, plate 2. This opening at 

 the surface probably broadened out to form one of those depres- 

 sions, or " sink holes," so frequently found in limestone regions, and 

 doubtless acted as a natural trap for animals roaming in its 

 vicinity, the cavern far below being the receptacle for their bones 

 when the skeletons had become sufficiently macerated to fall apart 

 and continue their downward journey through the small, irregular 

 chimney-like opening. In this descent of a 100 feet or more it is 

 quite evident how these bones became so broken and separated. The 

 accumulation was probably gradual, extending possibly over hun- 

 dreds of years, and this time element, in part at least, would account 

 for the indiscriminate mixing of the bones of so great a variety of 



1 Erosion has doubtless carried away many feet of material from the summit of the 

 ridge since these animal remains became thus entombed. 



