ROOM IV. OSSIFEROUS CAVES OP ENGLAND. 395 



The most celebrated ossiferous caverns are situated in 

 Franconia, and in numerous parts of the Hartz. That of 

 Gailenreuth has long been known and frequented for its fossil 

 treasures, which principally consist of the bones and teeth 

 of extinct species of bears ; skeletons have been found of 

 animals of all ages, from the adult to the cub but a few days 

 old. 1 There are numerous caverns in the neighbouring 

 district, some of which are equally rich in the remains of 

 camivora ; 2 fossils of a like nature are also found in the consoli- 

 dated gravel and drift of various parts of Germany, and in the 

 fissures of rocks containing iron-ore, at Kropp, in Carniola. 



In Australia, caverns with ossiferous breccia are numerous ; 

 but the bones belong to extinct marsupial animals of genera 

 still existing in the country : while in the New Zealand caves, 

 the bones hitherto obtained are those of the Moa and other 

 extinct colossal brevipennate birds, (ante, p. 104.) 



OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF ENGLAND. In England, several 

 caverns presenting similar phenomena have been discovered. 

 That of Kirkdale, near Kirby Moorside, Yorkshire, is well 

 known from the celebrity it acquired by the description and 

 illustration of its contents by Dr. Buckland.a This cave, or 

 rather fissure, for its dimensions were too limited to merit the 

 name of cavern, was situated in oolitic limestone ; it was two 

 hundred and fifty feet long, from two to fourteen high, and 

 six or seven wide. The floor was occupied by a bed of indu- 

 rated mud, covered over with a thick crust of stalagmite; 

 the roof and sides being invested with a sparry coating, as 

 is commonly the case in the fissures of limestone rocks. 4 

 From this cave were obtained numerous bones of hyenas, 

 associated with bones, more or less fractured, of a species of 



1 See " Wonders of Geology," 6th edit. p. 176. 



2 A highly interesting account of the Ossiferous Caves of the Hartz 

 and Franconia, by Sir Philip Grey Egerton, Bart., is published in 

 " Geol. Proc." vol. ii. p. 94, for 1834. 



3 Dr. Buckland's celebrated work "Reliquiae Diluvianae," contains an 

 admirable description of these caverns and their contents, with numerous 

 plates. The student, in consulting this volume, must separate the facts, 

 from the diluvial theory, which, at the period of its publication (1823), 

 they were supposed by Dr. Buckland, and other eminent geologists, to 

 confirm. See " Wonders of Geology," 6th edit. p. 179. 



4 For a general description of the cave at Kirkdale, see " Wonders of 

 Geology," p. 180 ; and for details, " Keliq. Diluv." 



