ON CAVES. 29 



the pellets o owls, and lower down the bones of small animals, packing 

 all the interstices. Therefore, it is necessary that in every case we should 

 consider how the bones found in a particular cave got there. 



Mr. STALK ART. They do not eat in caves. We find in India that 

 the tiger will not go into a cave where he has a wilderness or jungle at 

 hand. This is so in the case of the tigers close by the Himalayas ; but 

 another tiger, which is rather smaller, and is found on the other side of the 

 Ganges, does go into caves, and has there been shot in the most plucky 

 manner by British officers. If you get evidence from those caves of such a 

 deposit of bones as has been described, then, doubtless, the inference which 

 has been drawn will hold good. It may be that the hya?nas spoken of may 

 have gnawed the bones before they got into the caves. When a lion or 

 t'ger has killed an ox or other large animal, and sucked the blood or eaten 

 part of the flesh, the jackals go to the carcase and finish the work, or the 

 vultures assemble and tear it to pieces. 



Professor HUGHES. We have not found traces of the tigers behaving 

 otherwise than according to their ordinary habits at the present time. We 

 do, however, find remains of hysenas in the caves, and, as we are informed, 

 the hysenas of to-day do leave their marks on the bones of the animals they 

 eat, and other traces, just such as are found in the caves, and that, I think, 

 is sufficient. With regard to the glacial epoch, I have confined myself to 

 what has happened in one particular valley, and asked what is the order of 

 events found there, for the glacial conditions found in another hemisphere 

 can make uo difference as far as this particular matter is concerned. The 

 record of intermediate forms is exceedingly rare. If we could find in any 

 of these caves a set of deposits representing every stage in the growth of 

 cavern-deposits, we should possibly get all the various developments of the 

 intermediate forms of life ; but, not having these, we say that the remains we 

 find are those of creatures which do suit their surroundings, and differ 

 from the nearest allied forms by modifications such as might be carried 

 out according to the laws of evolution as worked out and observed 

 within the limits of our lives. It is one of those cases in which you have an 

 hypothesis founded in the first place on one bit of evidence, and then 

 supported by the comparison of that with another bit of evidence, 

 until you get more and more data added to what was at first insufficient 

 and the foundation of a tentative hypothesis only, and in the end you 

 come to the conclusion that nothing but that hypothesis will fit in 

 with all the observations made. With regard to what has been said about 

 the fairy rings, what I meant was that the plant became locally extinct 

 within the circle, and, if its possible area of growth were limited, and it 

 were pushed to the margin, it might, in the same way, become totally 

 extinct. As to species having died out, I need only mention the sea-cow, 

 the dodo, and the auk. 



Mr. PATTISON. I did not mean it in that way. 



Professor HUGHES. Then, we are agreed. All we have to do is to show 



