482 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. VI. 



forming the floor of the Brazilian caves. Dr. Lund, from the condition 

 and situation of these remains, concluded that they belonged to an 

 ancient tribe that was coeval with some of the extinct mammalia. Por- 

 tions of human crania from these caverns are placed with the Guada- 

 loupe skeleton in Wall-case D. 



OSSIFEROUS CAVES OP TORQUAY AND KIRKDALE. Wall-case E. The 

 contents of this Case consist of mammalian remains from the caves of 

 Kirkdale in Yorkshire, Kent's Hole, near Torquay in Devonshire, and 

 of Gailenreuth in Franconia. The nature of such accumulations has 

 already been so fully discussed (ante, p. 396), that a brief notice will 

 suffice. The fossils belong for the most part to extinct species and 

 genera of carnivora. In the upper part of the cabinet there are many 

 fine teeth and jaws of the usual cave Hyenas and Bears ; and teeth of 

 the large tiger-like animal, the Machairodus latidens, described in 

 a former chapter (ante, p. 400). There are likewise jaws and teeth of 

 Foxes, Weasels, Rats, Mice, &c., from Kirkdale Cave ; and of a species 

 of Badger, Otter, Polecat, and Stoat, from Kent's Hole, Torquay ; the 

 latter are part of the collection of the late Rev. J. Mac Enery. 



The cave at Torquay is an extensive chasm in the limestone strata, 

 extending 600 feet in length, with many lateral fissures. The lower 

 part of the cave is filled up to a thickness of twenty feet with reddish 

 sandy loam, full of fossil bones of carnivorous animals. 1 This is covered 

 by a layer of stalagmite, a few feet thick, which forms the floor of the 

 cavern. Upon this is a slight covering of earthy matter, in which have 

 been found patches of charcoal, a few human bones, and fragments of 

 coarse ancient pottery. Upon breaking through the sparry floor the 

 ossiferous deposit is exposed; and imbedded with the fossil bones 

 several flint-knives, stone arrow and spear-heads, were discovered. 

 These instruments are of the same kind as those found in the early 

 British tumuli on the adjacent hills, and unquestionably belong to the 

 same period. 



These facts have given rise to much curious speculation as to the con- 

 temporaneity of these remains of man and human art, with the extinct 

 species of animals whose bones are entombed in the cave. Kent's 

 Hole, Banwell Cave, and all the ossiferous fissures and caverns I have 

 examined, appear to me to have been mere rents in limestone rocks, 

 which were filled with drift while submerged in shallow water ; and 

 into which the mutilated carcasses of land animals may have been car- 

 ried by subaqueous currents. As the bones, though broken, are rarely 

 waterworn, and the fragments even retain their sharp edges, they must 

 have been more or less protected by the muscles and skin ; and the 

 extreme freshness of the surface of many of the specimens supports this 

 opinion. Upon the elevation of the land, these caves were raised above 

 the water, and gradually drained, during which the formation of stalag- 

 mite commenced from the percolation of solutions of calcite through 

 the superincumbent beds of limestone. As soon as Kent's Cave was 

 accessible from the land, and before the formation of the stalagmitic 



1 See Dr. Buckland's " Reliquiae Diluvianae," for details ; and " Won- 

 ders of Geology," 6th. Edit. p. 181, for a concise view of the phenomena. 



