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. Tournal sets forth his 

 opinions, is rarelv to be met with in India, and as the animal remains in- 

 humed in the mud and gravel of caves may prove hereafter to be contem- 

 poraneous, geologically speaking, with our newly-discovered deposits 

 under the clays of the Dodb, we shall make no apology for concluding 

 our present notice with a brief sketch of M. Tournal'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. 



Of the vast number of caves lately brought 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 (arsus spelceus) , the skeletons of which 

 are still in connection, and appear to have been gradually imbed- 

 * Annales de Chimie, Fevrier, 1833. 



