22 REMAINS OF MAMMAl-TA, WILD AND DOMESTICATED, CUAP. II. 



not SO much dooayod as are those of the stone period; the 

 hitter having- -wasted doAvn quite to the level of the mud, 

 whoroas the pik^s of the bronze age (as in the Lake of Bienne, 

 for oxan\plo) still project above it. 



Pi'ofessor llutime^-er of Basle, avoII known to paleontologists 

 as the author of several important memoirs on fossil verte- 

 brata, has recently published a scientitic description of great 

 interest ol' the aninuil ron\nin.s dredged up at various stations 

 where they had been imbedded for ages in the mud into which 

 the piles were driven.* 



These bones bear the same relation to the primitive inhabit- 

 ants of Switzerland and some of their immediate successors 

 as do the contents of the Danish " refuse-heaps" to the ancient 

 tishiug and hunting tribes who lived on the shores of the 

 Baltic. 



The list oi' wild n\ammalia enumerateil in this excellent 

 treatise contains no less than twenty-four si)ecies, exclusive of 

 t^everal domesticated ones : besides which there are eighteen 

 species of birds, the wild swan, goose, and two sj^ecies of ducks 

 being among theu\ ; also three reptiles, including the eatable 

 frog and fresh-water tortoise ; and, lastly, nine species of tresh- 

 water tish. All these (amounting to tifty-four species) are 

 with one exception still living in Europe. The exception 

 is the wild bull {^Bos ^^rimhjenius), Avhich, as belore stated, 

 survived in historical times. The following are the mammalia 

 alluded to: — The bear {Zysii^ Arctos), the badger, the com- 

 mon marten, the piolecat, the ermine, the weasel, the otter, 

 wolf tbx, wild cat, hedgehog, squirrel, tield-mouse i^^us syl- 

 vaticiis), hare, beaver, hog ^^eomprising two races, namely, the 

 wild boar and swamp-hog), the stag i^Cervus Eh'2)has), the 

 roe-deei*, the fallow-deer, the elk, the steinbock {Capm Ibex), 

 the chamois, the Lithuanian bison, and the wild bull. The 



* Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten in der Sehweiz. Basel. 1861. 



