160 On Fossil Antediluvian Remain.i. 



sure, lost their animal matter ; land shells, of which some species 

 no longer live in the neighbourhood ; modern marine shells ; 

 numerous fragments of pottery ; pebbles of green sandstone, 

 and grey and white secondary limestone. Lastly, there are 

 also observed in it fragments of wood charcoal. 



7. The roof and walls of the cave are in several places co- 

 vered with an osseous breccia, which is nothing else than the 

 black mud cemented by stalagmitic infiltrations. 



8. This breccia contains the same objects as the black mud. 

 From the above considerations, says M. Tournal, I think I 



am authorised to conclude, — 



1. That all the objects contained in the mud and breccia are 

 of the same date. 



2. At a certain epoch, the first cave was entirely choked up, 

 which is sufficiently shewn by the breccia that invests the roof. 

 In the second cave, the roof being much higher, the mud did 

 not reach it ; but every thing indicates that the mud attained a 

 gi-eater height than that of its present level. 



3. The caves were filled during the period intervening be- 

 tween the times of geological formations and the historical times. 



4. The mud which has filled them, and the fossil bones which 

 it contains, are much more modern than those found in the caves 

 of Lunel Viel, and in the principal caves yet known. 



5. During the time that elapsed between the deposition of 

 the mud of the caves of Lunel Viel, and the deposition of that 

 which has filled the caves of Bize, the animals which inhabited 

 France had undergone great changes. 



6. Some species of animals have disappeared fi'om the surface 

 of the globe since the commencement of historical times. 



7. Man existed at the period when the caves of Bize were 

 filled. 



Conclusions of M. Marcel de Serres. 



The existence in the same mud and breccia of human bones, 

 and remains of land mammifera, belongmg to extinct species, 

 proves, in an incontestible manner, that, since the appearance of 

 man upon the earth, species have been completely destroyed, 

 or at least have ceased to exist in the different parts of the 

 globe which have been explored by geologists. 



