Anecdotes of JVatural Histori^ 93 



Schaffhausen June 26, 1829. 

 My dear SiVf — Lord Cole and myself are just returned to 

 Schaffhausen, from a three weeks' visit to the caverns of Fran- 

 conia ; and knowing the great interest you feel in their welfare, 

 I write to inform you of the melancholy fact of the total destruc- 

 tion of the deposit of bones in the caves of Kiihloch and Raben- 

 stein. His Majesty, the king of Bavaria, having announced his 

 intention to visit Rabenstein, the owner of that castle has thought 

 fit to prepare these two caves for his reception ; in order to do 

 which, he has broken up the whole of the floors, pounding the larger 

 stones and hones to the bottom, for a foundation, and spreading the 

 earth, and finer particles, to form a smooth surface over them. 

 Conceive our horror on arriving at Kiihloch, at finding thirty men 

 at work, wheeling out the animal* earth, to level the inclination 

 of the entrance, by which you have so satisfactorily explained 

 the phenomenon of the absence of pebbles and diluvial loam, in 

 this remarkable cavern. There was not a bone to be found there 

 when we arrived; however, with a little management, we con- 

 trived to obtain two beautiful fragments of lower jaws of hyena, 

 besides some very good bears' bones, and one ulna that had been 

 broken during the animal's life, and the sharp edges of the frac- 

 ture rounded off by the absorbents into a smooth stump. We 

 likewise procured from one of the workmen, teeth of a fox, of a 

 tiger, and a molar tooth of the right lower jaw of Rhinoceros — 

 all of which he said he picked up in Kiihlock." — Philosophical 

 Magazine and Annals of Philosophy. 



The following anecdote has been communicated to the editor 

 by a gentleman of distinguished standing at Washington, who is 

 a very curious observer. This defensive faculty of a well known 

 insect, is a new discovery, and the attention of some naturalists 

 will probably be drawn to it. 



"Walking on the back piazza, I noticed that one of the light- 

 ning bugs, had become entangled in a spider's web. The spider 

 instantly attacked him, and endeavoured to secure his wings. Th^ 

 bug emitted his light very rapidly, the spider alternately attack- 

 ing and retreating, until at length it appeared distressed, and 

 sustained itself upon the web with difliculty, staggering and tum- 



*The presence of such quantities of this animal earth, made this cave par- 

 ticularly interesting to naturalists, as it consisted of broken down animal matter. 



