342 Analysis of Scientific Books. 



they perished by the same waters which produced it. Thirdly, that 

 the bones belonged to extinct species which have never re-esta- 

 bUshed themselves in the northern portions of the world. The 

 phenomena of this cave, therefore, seem referable to a period im- 

 mediately antecedent to the last inundation of the earth, when it 

 was inhabited by land animals bearing a generic and often a specific 

 resemblance to those which now exist; and they also scoin to de- 

 monstrate that there was a long succession of years in which the 

 elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus had been the prey of the 

 hyaenas, which, like themselves, inhabited this country in a period 

 immediately preceding the formation of the diluvial gravel. The 

 catastrophe producing this gravel appears to have been the last 

 event that* has operated generally to modify the surface of the 

 earth, and the few local and partial changes that have succeeded 

 it, such as the formation of torrent gravel, terraces, peat bog, 4"C. all 

 conspire to show that the period of their commencement was sub- 

 sequent to that at which the diluvium was formed. 



But we come now to one of the most curious parts of the very 

 curious subject before us, which is, that four of the genera of ani- 

 mals whose bones are so widely dispersed over the temperate and 

 polar regions of the northern hemisphere, at present exist in tro- 

 pical climates only, and chiefly indeed south of the equator; and 

 that the only country in which the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopo- 

 tamus, and hyaena arc now associated is southern Africa. In 

 the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, they all live and 

 die together, as they probably formerly did in Britain, whilst the 

 hippopotamus is now confined exclusively to Africa, and the 

 elephant, rhinoceros, and hyaena are also diffused widely over the 

 continent of Asia. 



As wc consider it amply proved, by Mr. Buckland's researches, 

 that the animals actually lived and died where their remains are 

 now found, and were not drifted thither by diluvian torrents, it is 

 pretty obvious either that the antediluvian climate of these lati- 

 tudes was warmer, or that the animals had a constitution adapted 

 to the regions of a northern winter. This last opinion derives 

 support from the Siberian elephant's carcass discovered entire in the 

 ice of Tungusia, the skin of which was covered by remarkably 

 long hair and wool ; and, in 1771, an equally remarkably hairy 

 rhinoceros was found in the same country. There are, moreover, 

 existing animals which have species adapted to the extremes both 

 of polar and tropical climates. Though we confess ourselves 

 rather inclined to adopt this view of the subject, it must be con- 

 fessed that many stubborn facts may be urged against it, a few of 

 which have been well put by ]Mr. Buckland, who espouses the 

 former opinion. Such, for instance, as the abundance of vegeta- 

 ble remains, as well as those of animals, which are now peculiar 

 to hot climates, but which abound in the secondary strata and di-» 

 luvium uf high northern latitudes. " To this argument," continues 

 our author : — 



