ON REMAINS OF THE MAMMOTH ETC. FROM NORTHERN SPAIN. 537 



28. Observations on Remains of the Mammoth and other Mam- 

 MALs/rorti Northern Spain. By A. Leith Adams, M.B., F.R.S., 

 F.G.S., Professor of Zoology, Eoyal College of Science, Dublin. 

 (Read January 24, 1877.) 



Mr friend Mr. O'Reilly, Professor of Mineralogy to the Royal Col- 

 lege of Science, Dublin, has kindly permitted me to examine a col- 

 lection of fossil remains made by himself and Professor Sullivan, of 

 Queen's College, Cork, when engaged in surveying the mineralogy 

 and geology of the province of Santander. 



The conditions under which the remains were found are fully de- 

 tailed in the able reports of these gentlemen, published in the 4th 

 volume of the ' Atlantis,' and reprinted in a separate volume entitled 

 1 Notes on the Geology and Mineralogy of the Spanish Provinces of 

 Santander and Madrid.' 



It appears that, during the sinking of a shaft in search of calamine 

 in limestone underlying the dolomite of the valley of Udias, the work- 

 men, at about 12 metres from the surface, suddenly broke into a 

 cavern of considerable dimensions. At the north end of the cavity 

 was a mound of soil which had fallen down a funnel blocked up at 

 the time of the discovery by surface-soil and debris. Close to this 

 mound were found many bones of mammals and birds. The remains 

 were either partially or entirely buried in calamine, which covered 

 the floor and formed an enormous bed of variable thickness. It 

 appears, therefore, not only from the large funnel, which was evi- 

 dently the original opening, but also from the remains, that the 

 cavern was an enlarged joint or rock-fissure, into which the entire 

 carcasses or else the live animals had been precipitated from time to 

 time. 



The following, I am informed, does not represent the entire pro- 

 duce of the cave (or, as it is named, the Dolores Mine). The authors 

 refer further to a long curved tooth, oval in transverse section, pos- 

 sibly the canine of Hippopotamus. 



This identification of remains of the Mammoth in Spain is, as far 

 as I know, the first authenticated instance of the kind, and therefore 

 important in relation to the southern distribution of the species; 

 for although the elephant-remains found in many parts of Europe 

 have been referred to the latter, it is well known that teeth of Ele- 

 phas antiquus, Elephas meridionalis, and the so-called Elephas ar- 

 meniacus have been confounded with molars of the Mammoth. 

 Moreover the asserted presence of remains of Elephas africanus in 

 Pleistocene deposits * near Madrid is another highly important in- 

 cident in connexion with Spain, whilst Mr. Smith, of Jordan Hill, 

 discovered a molar of Elephas antiquus at Gibraltar f. 



* Lartet, Atti dell' Acad, di Scieuz. torn. vii. p. 223. 

 t Falconer & Busk, Palseont. Mem. vol. ii. p. 557. 



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