THE GEOLOGIST; 



Now who can accept this as a satisfactory hypothesis of the forma- 

 tion of these deposits ? It seems a needless labonr to examine it in 

 detail : it is incredible, upon the face of it, that the bone-breccias of 

 these and numberless other caverns similarly circumstanced could 

 have been accumulated in any such way. 



But I feel very confident of being able to offer an hypothesis which 

 will meet all the ordinary facts of these cases, and against which on 

 insuperable objections can be alleged. 



It so happened that, some years ago, I lived in company with a 

 spaniel dog, I may almost say during every hour of its life, and in its 

 daily habits I saw, unless I am much mistaken, an explanation of the 

 origin of the bone-breccias. Though a very small creature, it was 

 an indomitable hunter ; no weather stopped it ; to range the fields, 

 the woods, and the ditches surrounding them was its one passion. 

 Wet, dirty, and tired it came in at dinner-time, and having eaten its 

 meal, it lay down to sleep. Upon awaking it began the operation 

 which was surely enacted by the camivora of the caves, and to which, 

 as it seems to me, must be referred the curious mixture which now 

 occupies their floors. With its teeth it pulled the mud from its long 

 hair, and one would hardly have believed, had he not seen it, the 

 heap of sand, clay, and pebbles which so small a dog left upon its 

 rug. Had it been allowed to gnaw bones in the study — a delight 

 which was forbidden — the ordinary materials of the breccias would 

 have been complete — quite complete ; for it deposited more than one 

 or two of its own teeth, and abundance of its own hair, upon the floor. 



Nothing could better consist with the hypothesis thus proposed 

 than the facts observed by M. Fontan. Of his two caves, one was 

 from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet nearer to the level of 

 the valley than the other. There accordingly were found the larger 

 pebbles. How certain it is that the larger prey would be taken to this 

 more readily accessible den, and would bring in larger masses of 

 mud, with larger stones fixed in them; and not unfrequently in the 

 hoofs of the large dead animals — -the aurochs, for instance — and in 

 the feet of the carnivora themselves ; while in the cavern higher up 

 on the hill, smaller portions, such as could be carried in the mouth 

 without dragging, would more generally be disposed of, and with 

 these smaller pebbles would be added to the accumulation. 



