Bones discovered in a cave at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire. 197 
mouth ; and in such case their bones would have been found 
lying on the surface of the mud before it was disturbed by 
digging : as no observations were made in season as to this 
point, it must remain unsettled, till the opening of another 
cave may give opportunity for more accurate investigation. 
This uncertainty, however, applies not to any of the extinct 
species, or to the larger animals, whose habit it is not to bur- 
row in the ground, nor even to those of the smaller ones, e. g. 
the water rat, fragments of whose bones and teeth are found 
imbedded in the antediluvian stalagmite, and cemented by it 
both to the exterior and internal cavities of bones belonging 
to the hyaenas and other extinct species, which, beyond all 
doubt, were lodged in the den before the period of the intro- 
duction of the mud. Should it turn out that since this period 
the cave has been accessible to foxes and weasels, it is pos- 
sible that some of the birds also may have been introduced by 
them. The evidence of this, however, rests on a fact not yet 
carefully ascertained, viz. whether the bones in question were 
buried, like those of the extinct animals, beneath the mud, 
or lay on its surface ; the state of one of the ravens’ bones, 
containing stalagmite in its central cavity ( see Plate XXV. 
fig. 22, 23), seems to indicate high antiquity j and the quarry- 
man, who was the first to enter the cave, assured me, that 
he has never seen a single bone of any kind on the surface, 
nor without digging into the substance of the mud. 
As ruminating animals form the ordinary food of beasts of 
prey, it is not surprising that their remains should occur in 
such abundance in the cave (see Plate XXII. fig. 1 to 14); 
but it is not so obvious by what means the bones and teeth of 
the elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, were conveyed 
