256 Prof. Harkness. — Elephant-remains in Ireland. 



floor. Jn some spots some of the fragments have fallen upon 

 the jfloor, but others, which have subsequently become detached 

 from the roof, did not reach this position, but have become jammed 

 together, and .form the roof of caves. This was the case at the spot 

 where the. osseous fragments were found, for, on clearing away some 

 rubbish which had been here accumulated, a cave, abcmt two feet 

 jhi^h, was found, having a brecciated roof about five feet in thick- 

 -ness. This brecciated .roof was cemented together by stalagmitic 

 imatter. 



The floor. of this cave was in part, also a breccia, united together 

 'by crystalline .carbonate of lime. This latter was mixch more abuaa- 

 •dant in the floor than in the roof ; and the angular fragments which 

 it cemented together were not usually found in contact with each 

 other. It was in this lower breccia and stalagmite that the bones 

 were found. 



At this spot the layer of breccia and stalagmite was about two 

 feet in depth ; but its thickness is extremely irregular, as near the 

 western side of the opening of the. cave it is not more than six inches 

 in depth, and in some spots it dissappears altogether. The bones 

 occur in the upper part of this layer, forming the floor of the cave, 

 rarely at a greater depth than four inches, and sometimes they are 

 even nearer the surface of the floor. This stalagmitic breccia rests 

 upon a mass of solid stalagmite, which is here about eighteen inches 

 thick ; and beneath this stalagmite another cave is seen. This cave, 

 was, however, so blocked up by masses of rock that an entrance could 

 not be made into it with the means which we had at our disposal. 



The stalagmitic breccia which yielded the bones was difficult to 

 work. This, hawever, resulted from the confined space which was 

 available for working in rather than the hardness of the rock itseK. 



That bones occur in it abundantly is shown by the circumstance 

 that, in an area of little more than a square yard, we obtained from 

 it five Elephant's vertebrae, one of which retained its spinous and 

 transverse processes nearly perfect. Portions of five Elephants 

 ribs were also found. Besides these, fragments of the metacarpal 

 and metatarsal bones of the reindeer were also met with.; and a 

 small frtigment of a rib apparently belonging to the same animal. In 

 some instances these bones were imbedded solely in the stalagmite, 

 but more frequently a thin layer of fine clay separated them from 

 the enveloping hard matrix. 



The bones occurring in the stalagmitic breccia are ia a more or 

 less broken condition ; the fractures, however, seem all to have been 

 made since the bones were brought into the cavern. The surfaces of 

 the fractures are generally very sharp, and the broken pieces are 

 frequently in juxtaposition. La the case of the metacarpal and 

 metatarsal bones of the reindeer, before referred to, these aff'ord some 

 interesting evidence as to the cause which has produced the fractures 

 in these bones. The fragments possess all the features of such bones 

 as are now regarded as having been split by man for the purpose of 

 obtaining the marrow which they afford. 



The cause of the fracture of the bones which are found in the 



