24 Mr. Weaver on Fossil Human Bones. [Jan. 



beds of calcareous tufa near Meissen ; and there, as well as here, 

 • are also found single bones of large kinds of frogs. Other bones 

 seem to belong to the hare and the rabbit, and deserve to be 

 accurately examined and compared. 



7. Bones of the gallinaceous tribe of birds, and probably also 

 of marsh fowl. The occurrence of the former is very remarkable, 

 and I am not aware that they have been met with before. 

 Among these is a perfectly preserved tibia, with the spur adher- 

 ing, which is very long in proportion, and agrees very closely 

 with the corresponding bone of the common or domestic cock 

 (gallus communis or gallinaceus). It is well known that the 

 common cock is principally distinguished by such a spur, while 

 the peacock, the partridge, as well as the tetrao canadensis and 

 francolinus orientalis, possess, for the greater part, much shorter 

 spurs, and frequently only obtuse, knobby excrescences in their 

 stead. There can be no doubt, therefore, that this bone is refer- 

 able to a bird closely resembling the domestic cock. The length 

 and form of the spur also prove, that it belonged to a full grown 

 bird, and yet the bony tube is one-third smaller, and much 

 thinner, than that of the common cock ; the head of the joint of 

 the knee and its posterior continuation also exhibit a slight 

 variation in form ; and hence it may be presumed that the bird 

 differed in some respects from the recent species. Almost all 

 the bones of the birds have undergone great change, and bespeak 

 a high antiquity, although they do not appear in so perfectly 

 calcined a state as the bones of the rhinoceros, and the horns of 

 the deer. 



Similar fossil bones are occasionally turned up by the plough 

 in some parts of the fields in the vicinity of Kbstritz, lying pro- 

 bably concealed almost every where in the alluvial loamy soil. 

 Great caution, however, should be exercised not to confound 

 common bones, brought casually upon the land in carrying 

 manure, with real fossil bones exposed at the surface by the 

 operations of agriculture. 



In the preceding pages, I have endeavoured to describe as 

 faithfully as possible all the natural circumstances by which these 

 remarkable remains of bones are distinguished ; and though I 

 have expressed my opinion, that they were swept hither and 

 deposited during the period of the formation of the alluvial tracts, 

 still it may deserve further inquiry, whether this view be the 

 most probable, or whether bones belonging to different periods 

 have been here commingled by other natural causes. 



Continuation of the Description of the Fossil Bones and their 

 Repositories in the Vicinity of Kostritz.* 



The veiy remarkable circumstance of fossil bones of animals 



* From the Nacbtrage zur Petrefactenkunde of the Baron von Schlotheim. Gotha. 

 1822. 



