Destruction of the Cave of Kiihloch^ in Francotiia. 93 



Rabenstein. His Majesty the king of Bavaria having an- 

 nounced his intention to visit Rabenstein, the owner of that 

 castle has thought fit to prepare these two caves for his recep- 

 tion ; in order to do which, he has broken up the whole of the 

 floors, pounding the larger stones and bones to the bottom for 

 a foundation, and spreading the earth and finer particles to 

 form a smooth surface over them. Conceive our horror on 

 arriving at Kuhloch, at finding thirty men at work, wheeling 

 out the animal earth, to level the inclination of the entrance, 

 by which you have so satisfactorily explained the phasnomenon 

 of the absence of pebbles and diluvial loam in this remarkable 

 cavern. There vvas not a bone to be found there when we 

 arrived ; however, with a little management we contrived to 

 obtain two beautiful fragments of lower jaws of hyaena, be- 

 sides some very good bears' bones, and one ulna that had been 

 broken during the animal's life, and the sharp edges of the 

 fracture rounded off by the absorbents into a smooth stump. 

 We likewise procured from one of the workmen, teeth of a 

 fox, of a tiger, and molar tooth of the right lower jaw of rhino- 

 ceros, — all of which he said he picked up in Kuliloch. 



In the cave of Rabenstein they found very few bones, but 

 a great many old coins and iron instruments. I am happy to 

 say we also found in the cave of Zahnloch, the large block of 

 stone which you describe as polished by the paws of the ante- 

 diluvian bears ; it was almost concealed by a pile of earth near 

 the entrance of the side chamber in which it stands. The angles 

 and surface of the block have certainly been rounded by some 

 agent anterior to the formation of its present coat of stalagmite. 

 I broke off this stalagmite in many places, and found the stone 

 in the same state imderneath, as in the parts that had not been 

 encased by it. We have brought you a large specimen of it, 

 in order that you may judge for yourself. We worked for six 

 days in Gailenreuth, and were very lucky in finding an entire 

 lower jaw of the Fdis spclcea, a perfect pelvis of the Ursiis 

 spciccus, and a very good collection of hyaina, wolf, and fox 

 teeth, besides bear's teeth and bones in abundance. We like- 

 wise found an immense quantity of fragments of old sepulchral 

 urns. We found also the same in the caves of Zahnloch and 

 Scharzfeld. 



At lionn, we obtained from Professor Goldfuss the tibia of 

 a deer from the cave of Sundwick, cracked, and having the 

 marks of hy;cna's teeth, exactly corresponding with those on 

 your lil)ia of an ox from Kirkdalc. We procured also a gnawed 

 rhinoceros bone from the same locahty. IJclicvc me, 

 My dear Sir, yours sincerely, 



I'HILII' Dt, MaLI'AS Iu;F,nTON. 

 XV. ytna. 



