182 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. II. 



Of these, the first named has been the most productive in objects of in- 

 terest; probably from the diligent research carried on for many years by 

 several local collectors. A very fine and extensive series obtained by the 

 late Rev. J. MacEnery, of Torquay, is now in the British Museum. It 

 comprises skulls and bones of all the species of carnivora usually met 

 with in such recesses ; and also the skull and teeth of a species of 

 Badger, Otter, Pole-cat, Ermine, &c. Among these are a most re- 

 markable canine tooth, six inches long, and an incisor, of a feline 

 animal larger than the Tiger (Macliairodus latidens) ; the edges of 

 these teeth are serrated, and the canine is very like in form the tooth 

 of one of the Wealden reptiles (the Megalosaurus). The teeth of 

 another species occur in the caves of Germany ; and a skull with teeth, 

 has lately been found in Auvergne. This extraordinary animal was 

 originally named Ursus cultridens by Cuvier, who supposed it to have 

 been an extinct species of Bear.* 



But this cave is invested with additional interest on another account, 

 which I will here briefly explain. The principal fissure extends 600 feet 

 in length, and there are several lesser lateral ones. The lower part of 

 the cave is filled up to a thickness of 20 feet, with reddish sandy loam 

 full of fossil bones. This is covered by a layer of stalagmite, from one 

 to four feet thick, which forms the floor of the cave. Upon this is 

 a slight covering of earthy matter, with here and there patches of char- 

 coal ; a few human bones, and fragments of coarse ancient pottery, 

 have been observed. Upon breaking through the sparry floor the 

 ossiferous earth is exposed ; and, imbedded toith the fossil bones, several 

 flint knives, arrow and spear heads, have been discovered. These 

 stone instruments are of the same kind as those found in the tumuli of 

 the early British tribes, and unquestionably belong to the same period. 

 This fact has given rise to much curious speculation, but the argu- 

 ments I shall presently bring forward, when speaking of a simi- 

 lar collocation of works of art, and human bones, with those of the 

 extinct cavern animals, will, I conceive, show that the data hitherto 

 obtained, do not warrant the inference, that these relics were contem- 

 porary. Kent's Hole, Banwell Cave, and all the ossiferous caves I 

 have examined in England, appear to have been mere rents or 

 fissures in limestone rocks, which were filled with drift, while sub- 

 merged in shallow water; and the carcases of land animals may 

 have been floated in by the subaqueous currents. As the bones, 

 though broken, are rarely waterworn, and the fragments even retain 

 their sharp edges, the bones must have been more or less protected by 



* See British Fossil Mammalia, p. 174. 



