148 Geological Society. 



the bones of bears lie in the caves of Franconia and the Hartz, and 

 are, like them, the remains of animals that lived and died in these 

 caverns before the introduction of the diluvium. They were found 

 no where in entire skeletons, but dispersed confusedly through the 

 mud. They were from bears of all ages, and none bore marks of 

 either having been rolled by water, or gnawed by the teeth of 

 hyenas, of which last-named animal Dr. Buckland found no traces 

 in this cave, in the few spots which he examined. 



Insulated teeth, ribs, and vertebrae, separate fragments of skulls, 

 and epiphyses detached from their bones, lay scattered through the 

 mud and pebbles. 



In one extensive grotto called the " Salle a danser," which from 

 its size and dryness is selected by visitors to eat and dance in, there 

 is neither stalactite on the roof, nor stalagmite on the floor, but 

 simply a thick deposit of diluvial mud, containing the same bones 

 as in the other chambers ; this mud being very dry is intersected by 

 narrow crevices descending from its surface, and the shells of eggs 

 and nuts, and the bones of chickens, iS:c. that are carelessly thrown 

 aside by visitors, have sometimes fallen into these fissures, where 

 they lie in juxtaposition with the antediluvian bones. Some of these 

 modern remains are also dragged by rats into holes made in the 

 mud by themselves, or by rabbits, badgers, and foxes. 



The author concludes by stating that the best rule to follow in 

 pursuit of antediluvian remains in caverns, is to select the lowest 

 parts in which any diluvium can have accumulated, and there dig 

 through the stalagmitic crust, and seek for teeth and bones in the 

 mud and pebbles that lie below. He also proposes, as a test for 

 distinguishing bones of this antiquity, — their property of adhering 

 to the tongue (happer) if applied to them after they are dry, a 

 property apparently derived from the loss of animal gelatine they 

 have sustained, — without the substitution of any mineral substance, 

 such as we find in bones imbedded in the regular strata. 'J'his test 

 extends equally to the bones of the osseous breccia of caverns and 

 fissures, and to those in all superficial deposits of diluvium, except- 

 ing such as are too argillaceous to have admitted the percolation 

 of water ; but the property of adhesion is rarely found in bones 

 from recent alluvium, or from peat bogs, nor does it exist in hu- 

 man bones, which the author has examined from Roman graves in 

 England, and from the druidical tombs of the ancient Britons, nor 

 in any of the human bones which he has discovered in the caves of 

 Pairland and Wokey Hall. 



Dr. Buckland proposes to apply this test to the much disputed 

 case of human bones, said by M. Sclotheim to have been discovered 

 in the cave of Kostriz in contact with those of the rhinoceros and 

 other extinct animals. 



Dr. Buckland also found, in the collection of Professor Fargeaud 

 ofBesangon, some teeth of fossil bears from a mine of Pea-iron- 

 ore in that neighbourhood ; bilt could not visit the spot to ascertain 

 whether this ore was extracted from a bed of superficial diluvium 

 or from a fissure. Such iron-ore abounds in the diluvium of the 

 east of France ; and in fissures at Plymouth, and near Spa. 



May 



