HODGE — OSSIFEROUS CAVERNS AT ORESTON. 



343 



ON THE OSSIFEROUS CAVERNS AT ORESTON. 



By Henry C. Hodge. 



(Continued from ]) age 30, vol. iii.) 



To the thick-skinned quadrupeds belong animals of at least four genera — ■ 

 Elephant, Rhinoceros, Horse, and Hog. 



In addition to the large grinders of the mammoth, before described, there 

 occurred a remarkable molar tooth of a very young mammoth (length or antero- 

 posterior diameter of the crown one inch and three-quarters, breadth one inch 

 and one-eighth), containing six plates ; it appears to belong to the " thick- 

 plated" variety, but is unhke any of the numerous small grinders of this 

 animal, contauied in the British Museum and elsewhere, with which it has been 

 carefully compared. 



The larger molars of the rhinoceros were all fragmentary ; but a small tooth, 

 having its enamel equally thick with that of the larger specunens, may, it is 

 presumed, belong to a small species of that animal. 



The teeth of the horse were comparatively very numerous, and comprised 

 the two species, 'Equus fossilis and E. pUcidens. Some of the molars were re- 

 markable, not merely Avith reference to their large size, but also on account of 

 the elegant plications of their enamel folds, the festoons being more complex 

 than usual, and in one of these the presence of a small additional and nearly 

 oval island of enamel is apparent. Whether this specimen belonged to the 

 ancient primigenial Hippotherium I am as yet unable to determine. There 

 were also various specimens of astragalus, a large coronary bone, and portions 

 of jaw mth teeth. Other remains included teeth referable to those of a fossil 

 ass or zebra. 



The chief remains of the hog were the interesting skuE. before alluded to ; 

 it, however, wanted that portion containing the incisors, tusks, and pre-molar 

 teeth. An interesting fragment, containing three pre-molars in situ, and still 

 retaining the base of a tusk of the lower jaw, together with a considerable por- 

 tion of the extremity of a tusk of the upper jaw vi^as afterwards met with in 

 the stalagmite. Another portion of the jaw of a young hog, its last molar 

 tooth not having yet cut the gum, was found, together with various large 

 molars, pre-molars, incisors, and two tolerably perfect tusks, belonging 

 respectively to the upper and lower jaw of this animal. It was remarked that 

 some of the teeth were in both caverns singularly stained of a yellow colour. 



The ruminants probably included one or two species of elk or deer, and two 

 or three animals allied to the ox. Teeth of the sheep or goat were also 

 brought me from the clay, but I have reason to be doubtful about the genuine- 

 ness of many of the last-named specimens. 



Among the remains of animals of the deer tribe, I would specially mention 

 an interesting fragment of jaw, containing several teeth, developed by me with 

 some pains from a large and nearly solid mass of stalagmitic matter, contaming 

 various other imbedded bones. There occurred, too, a very few fractured 

 specimens of teeth, suggestive of those of a giraffe (this possibility having been 

 ascertained by comparison with figures of fossil teeth contained in a paper by 



