FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 16 



It is the opinion of the Baron that the remains in question 

 belonged to animals which lived and died in the caves in which 

 their debris are found, and that the period of their establish- 

 ment there was considerably posterior to the era in which the 

 extensive rocky strata were formed. In his first edition, he 

 expressed his opinion that it was subsequent to the formation 

 of the loose strata in which the bones of the elephant, rhino- 

 ceros, and hippopotamus have been discovered. But he has 

 since altered this opinion, and fully coincides with Dr. Buck- 

 land that the bones of the caverns and the osseous breccia, 

 are of the same antiquity with those of the loose strata, and 

 . that all were prior to the last general catastrophe which over- 

 whelmed this globe. 



Of the Megalonix, an extinct animal of the sloth genus, 

 the remains have been found in a cavern in Western Virginia. 

 Of the caves of this country the most remarkable is that of 

 Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, visited and first described by Dr. Buck- 

 land. The generality of educated readers must be so well 

 acquainted, through the medium of various publications, with 

 the researches of the learned professor, that we shall be excused 

 from following him through his very minute and lucid descrip- 

 tion of the geological position and internal peculiarities of this 

 cavern : for our present purpose it will be sufficient to observe, 

 that the teeth and bones discovered in the cave of Kirkdale 

 are referable to twenty-three different species of animals ; — six 

 carnivora, four pachydermata, four ruminantia, four rodentia, 

 and five birds. Among the carnivora, the most numerous by 

 far appear to have been hysenas of a larger size than any known 

 at present. Their teeth were so very abundant, that the pro- 

 fessor does not calculate the number of animals to which they 

 belonged at less than two or three hundred. Two large canine 

 teeth of the tiger were found four inches in length, and a few- 

 molars exceeding in size those of the largest lion or Bengal 

 tiger. There was one tusk of a bear, which appears to have 

 been specifically identical with the ursus spelccus of the Ger- 



