OF CARNIVOROUS ANIMALS. 533 



all produce abundance of stalactites. These stalactites 

 line the walls, narrow the passages, and assume a thou- 



On first examination, there were collected, in a very short time, 

 in the dust of the * floors of these caves, upwards of 200 different 

 teeth ; and we may assume that, by the end of the year 1774, some 

 thousands were collected. It is difficult to form a conception of the 

 number of these zoolithes, and of the earth in which they are con- 

 tained ; and I do not hesitate in believing, thai, at the lowest esti- 

 mate, several hundred waggons load would not remove the whole. 

 The animal earth, with intermingled bones, was, in many places, 

 eight or ten feet deep. Esper calculated that, in his time, 180 skulls 

 had been taken out of the loose animal earth, the conglomerate not 

 having been broken up for this purpose. Of late years, the conglo- 

 merate afforded, in the space of three years, 150 skulls ; and we may 

 estimate that ttvice as many more were destroyed in breaking them 

 out of the hard stalactitic matter. If we add to this the pieces of 

 skulls which occur in this repository, more frequently than perfect 

 skulls, we may estimate that more than a thousand individuals lie 

 buried here. 



These bones occur now, as formerly, irregularly dispersed ; that 

 is, teeth, cylindrical bones, cranial bones, and vertebrae of different 

 species, and of different individuals of different ages, and of various 

 sizes, occur conglutinated together. We never find the under jaw 

 of the same skull near to it, and rarely the two separated portions 

 of the same lower jaw together ; the skulls occurring all in the deep- 

 er places : and Esper found the teeth forming a bed by themselves. 

 The bones still possess their sharper edges, and are neither rubbed 

 nor gnawed^ 



If we assume a thousand buried individuals, the proportion of the 

 different species will be, according to Dr Goldfuss, as follows : 



1. Hyaena spelaea, :::i ** - 25 



2. Canis spekeus, 50 



3. Felis spelaea, .' -H . - 25 



4. Gulo spelseus, X'ii * 30 



5. Ursus priscus, -'" - 10 

 ' 6 . Ursus arctoideus, 60 



7- Ursus spelaeus. - - 800 



