1896.] Fossils and Fossilization. 993 
FOSSILS AND FOSSILIZATION. 
By L. P. Gratacap. 
II. 
(Continued from page 912). 
The replacing and mineralizing influence of surface waters 
may preserve bones which would otherwise quickly disappear. 
At Big Bone Lick in Kentucky the great numbers of bones of 
the buffalo are found according to Prof.Shaler “ near the pres- 
ent position of the springs and never at any depth beneath the 
surface.” -These bones are in some places, “massed to the 
depth of two feet or more, as close as the stones of a pavement, 
and so beaten down by the succeeding herds as to make it dif- 
ficult to lift them from their bed.” The attraction of this 
locality for the herds of wild animals spread through the for- 
ests of Kentucky in plistocene and recent times, arose from 
the saline encrustations made by the natural brines which 
spring to the surface at this point. There is an ossuary of 
their remains, the mastodon and elephant bones being upon 
the higher levels and the buffalo skeletons placed more within 
the swampy basin, which has itself undergone denudation since 
the advent of the great proboscideans. These bones are im- 
pregnated with salt! and have become partially mineralized, 
while the salt solution itself neutralizes any vegetable acids 
arising from the decomposition of the reeds which, according 
Mr. Cooper, accompany the bones. Yet the falling into 
swamps or bogs of the great mammals and their gradual sub- 
mersion and burial in the deeper layers of the tenacious and 
yielding mixture, has been a means of preserving their re- 
mains, especially, as besides their partial immunity from the 
action of organic acids, their great bones have formed, from 
their formidable size and texture, anirreducible nucleus. But 
1 The preservation of the bones of the Megalonyx in the Big Bone cave in Ten- 
‘nessee, may be partially ascribed to the presence of large quantities of saltpeter 
earth. 
