151 



Excepting the megalonyx *, a kind of sloth of 

 the size of an ox, described by Mr. Jefferson, I 

 know not a single instance of the skeleton of 

 an animal buried in a cavern of the New World. 

 The extreme scarcity of this geological pheno- 

 menon appears less surprising, if we recollect, 

 that in France, England, and Italy, there are 

 also a great number of grottoes, in which we 

 have never met with any vestige of fossile 

 bones *f. 



Although, in primitive nature, whatever re- 

 lates to the ideas of extent and mass is of no 

 great importance, I must nevertheless observe, 

 that the cavern of Caripe is one of the most 

 spacious, that is known in limestone forma- 

 tions. It is at least 900 metres or 2800 feet in 

 length ^. In general, on account of the differ- 

 ent degrees of the solubility of the rocks, it is 



i 



* The megalonyx was found in the caverns of Green 

 Briar, in Virginia, at 1500 leagues distance from the me- 

 gatherium, which resembles it very much, and is as big as 

 the rhinoceros. (Americ. Trans. No. 30, p. 246.) 



+ Cuvier, Recherches sur les Ossetnens Fossiles, T. iv, 

 Ours, p. 10. 



t The famous Baumannshole in the Hartz, according to 

 Messrs. Gilbert and Ilsen, is only 578 feet in length ; the 

 cavern of Scharzfeld 350 j that of Gailenruth 304 j that of 

 Antiparos 300 (Freiesleben, T. ii, p. 165). But according 

 to Saussure (Voyages, § 465), the Grotto of Balme is 1300 

 feet long. 



