LIFE OF THE QUATERNARY PERIOD. 577 



mired and perished ; 4. In ice-cliffs and frozen soils, where they have 

 been hermetically seeded and preserved to the present time. 



1. Bone-Caverns. — The richest sources of Quaternary mammalian 

 remains are undoubtedly bone-caverns. These occur in nearly all coun- 

 tries, often along the course of streams, but high above the present 

 stream-level. Their formation and their filling are in some way con- 

 nected with the floods of the Interglacial and Champlain epochs. 

 They are rich in organic remains to a degree which is almost incredi- 

 ble. One of the most striking peculiarities of these remains is, that 

 they often consist of a heterogeneous mixture of all hinds, carnivorous 

 and herbivorous, and all sizes, from the Elephant and Cave-bear on the 

 one hand down to Eats and Weasels on the other ; sometimes perfect, 

 more often broken, mingled with earth and gravel, forming uhstratified 

 bone-rubbish. Another peculiarity of these deposits is that they are 

 often covered and, as it were, sealed by a stalagmitic crust formed by 

 subsequent drippings from the roof, and thus preserved against even 

 the suspicion of disturbance to the present time. We give (Fig. 944) 

 a section of the cave of Gailenreuth, with its bone-rubbish and stalag- 

 mitic crust. 



Among the remains of Herbivores found in bone-caverns, the most 

 remarkable are those of the Elephant, Ehinoceros, Hippopotamus, the 

 great Irish Elk, besides Horses and Oxen. Among Carnivores are the 

 Cave-bear ( Ursus spelceus), larger than the Grizzly, the Cave-hyena,* 

 the Cave-lion,* the Saber-toothed Tiger (Machairodus latidens), with its 

 saber-like tusks, ten inches long, besides smaller animals of the same 

 order. The remains of the larger Carnivora, especially the Cave-bear 



Fig. 945.— Skull of Ursus speL-eus, x £. 



and the Cave-hyena, are the most abundant. The bones of the smaller 

 Herbivores bear the marks of teeth, as if they had been gnawed. The 



* These are supposed to be the same species as the African lion and hyena of the 

 present day, but much larger. 



3Y 



