teeth of hyenas, of which last-named animal Dr. Buckland found no 

 traces in this cave, in the few spots which he examined. 



Insulated teeth, ribs, and vertebrae, separate fragments of skulls, 

 and epiphyses detached from bones, lay scattered through the mud 

 and pebbles. 



In one extensive grotto called the " Salle a, danser," which from 

 its size and dryness is selected by visitors to eat and dance in, there 

 is neither stalactite on the roof, nor stalagmite on the floor, but 

 simply a thick deposit of diluvial mud, containing the same bones 

 as in the other chambers ; this mud being very dry is intersected by 

 narrow crevices descending from its surface ; and the shells of eggs 

 and nuts, and the bones of chickens, &c. that are carelessly thrown 

 aside by visitors, have sometimes fallen into these fissures, where 

 they lie in juxtaposition with the antediluvian bones. Some of these 

 modern remains are also dragged by rats into holes made in the mud 

 by themselves, or by rabbits, badgers, and foxes. 



The author concludes by stating that the best rule to follow in 

 pursuit of antediluvian remains in caverns, is to select the lowest 

 parts in which any diluvium can have been accumulated, and there 

 dig through the stalagmitic crust, and seek for teeth and bones in 

 the mud and pebbles that lie below. He also proposes, as a test for 

 distinguishing bones of this antiquity, their property of adhering 

 to the tongue if applied to them after they are dry ; — a property 

 apparently derived from the loss of animal gelatine, without the 

 substitution of any mineral substance, such as we find in bones im- 

 bedded in the regular strata. This test extends equally to the 

 bones of the osseous breccia of caverns and fissures, and to those 

 in all superficial deposits of diluvium, excepting such as are too ar- 

 gillaceous to have admitted the percolation of water ; but the pro- 

 perty of adhesion is rarely found in bones from recent alluvium, 

 or from peat bogs, nor does it exist in human bones, which the 

 author has examined from Roman graves in England, and from the 

 druidical tombs of the ancient Britons, nor in any of the human 

 bones which he has discovered in the caves of Paviland and Wokey 

 Hole. 



Dr. Buckland proposes to apply this test to the much disputed 

 case of human bones, said by M. Schlotheim to have been discovered 

 in the cave of Kostriz in contact with those of the rhinoceros and 

 other extinct animals. 



Dr. Buckland also found, in the collection of Professor Fargeaud 

 of Besancon, some teeth of fossil bears from a mine of Pea-iron- 

 ore in that neighbourhood ; but could not visit the spot to ascertain 

 whether this ore was extracted from a bed of superficial diluvium, 

 or from a fissure. Such iron-ore abounds in the diluvium of the 

 east of France ; and in fissures at Plymouth, and near Spa. 



May 4. — Thomas Bell, Esq. of New Broad Street, was elected 

 a Fellow of the Society. 



The reading of Professor Sedgwick's paper on the Magnesian 

 Limestone was continued. 



