140 THE FAUNA OF THE 



obtained at Cortaillod a pair of bracelets in one haul of the 

 dredge the first, which had been visible from the boat, was 

 greenish and covered with incrustation ; the second, which 

 had been in the mud immediately below, was as fresh as if it 

 had only just been cast. 



As piles of the Bronze age are sometimes found at a 

 depth of as much as fifteen feet, and it is manifest that 

 buildings cannot have been* constructed over water much 

 deeper than this, it is evident that the Swiss lakes cannot 

 since that period have stood at a much higher level than at 

 present. This conclusion is confirmed by the position of 

 Roman remains at Thonon, on the Lake -of Geneva, and we 

 thus obtain satisfactory evidence that the height of the Swiss 

 lakes must have remained almost unaltered for a very long 

 period. 



For our knowledge of the animal remains from the Pile- 

 works we are almost entirely indebted to Prof. Rutimeyer, 

 who has published two memoirs on the subject (Mittheilungen 

 der Antiq. Gesellschaft in Zurich, Bd. xiii. Abth. 2, 1860 ; 

 and, more recently, a separate work, Die Fauna der Pfahlbau- 

 ten in der Schweiz, 1861). The bones are in the same frag- 

 mentary condition as those from the Kjokkenmoddings, and 

 have been opened in the same manner for the sake of the 

 marrow. There is also the same absence of certain bones 

 and parts of bones, so that it is impossible to reconstruct a 

 perfect skeleton, even of the commonest animal. 



The total number of species amounts to about seventy, of 

 which ten are fishes, three reptiles, twenty birds, and the 

 remainder quadrupeds. Of the latter, six species may be 

 considered as having been domesticated, namely, the dog, 

 pig, horse, goat, sheep, ,and at least two varieties of oxen. 

 The bones very seldom occur in a natural condition, but those 

 of domestic and wild animals are mixed together, and the 

 state in which they are found, the marks of knives upon them, 



