632 Notes on the Specimens of the Kankar Formation, ‘[Dec. 
quartz are here and there perceived also in the concretions of rolled 
kankar ; and it is a curious fact, that the size and description of the 
granitic gravel adhering to the bones, exactly resemble the characters 
of those attached to the Jabalpur fossils. 
With regard to the human bones (No. 9), much doubt: may fairly 
be entertained, on account both of the imperfect preservation of the 
fragments and the rarity of their occurrence in a fossil state: indeed, 
it is well known to be a'much contested point whether the bones of 
man, or those of the monkey tribe; have ever been so discovered ; al- 
though the careful examination of the human remains lately found in 
the caves of the south of France seem to have set the point at rest with 
most of the French geologists. 
. As the Annales de Chimie*, in which M. Tournat sets forth his 
Opinions, is rarely to be met with in India, and as the animal remains in- 
humed inthe mud and gravel of caves may prove hereafter to be contem- 
poraneous, geologically speaking, with our newly-discovered deposits 
under the clays of the Dodd, we shall make no apology for concluding 
our present notice with a brief sketch of M. Tournat’s view on this 
interesting subject. 
i» Occurrence of the Bones of Man in the Fossil State. 
-The phenomena, of caves is much more complicated than was at first 
supposed, when the simple theory of a diluvial wave washing into them 
the debris of animals-on the instant of their sudden destruction was 
proposed as sufficient to account. for the quantity of-bones found im- 
bedded in the mud, gravel, and stalagmite of these truly valuable geo- 
logical depositories. are 
Of the vast number of caves lately iikoacht to light on the continent 
of Europe, some have been found to contain no fossils ; others merely 
gravel and mud ;—some, ancient bones and coprolite ; and others only 
a prodigious quantity of the recent dung of bats and birds of prey. 
No. general law pertains to them. They occur at all heights ;—in cal- 
careous rocks of every different age, and. at various elevations: above 
the present contiguous valleys. .Such.as are found in inaccessible si- 
tuations, and at a distance from running water, are generally empty ; 
those of which the apertures have been but:recently disclosed by gra- 
dual wear of the rock in front, contain only modern deposits ; the na- 
ture.of the organic remains varying according to the locality and the 
antiquity of the aperture. _In some cases we meet exclusively with the 
bones of a species of large bear (ursus:speleus), the skeletons of which 
are still in connection, and appear to have been gradually imbed- 
* Annales de Chimie, Fevrier, 1833. 
