83 
found in the caverns of Oreston. 
bears any apparent marks of teeth, is a portion of the radius 
of a young wolf, which, in two or three places on its surface, 
has the impression of the incisors and canine teeth of some 
small animal of the size of a weasel. 
The clay still adhered so firmly to the surface of many of 
these bones, that unless removed with considerable caution, 
the outer layers separated along with it, and showed that 
but little animal matter remained ; and on submitting some 
of these fragile portions to the action of dilute muriatic acid, 
they almost intirely dissolved, leaving scarcely any trace of 
animal matter. In this respect there is a considerable diffe- 
rence in various specimens. In some comparative trials 
made by Professor Buckland, although the proportion of 
animal matter was greater than in my experiment, he found 
that these bones contained about one-third part less than the 
bones from the cavern at Kirkdale. 
Is it not therefore probable, that the clay immediately sur- 
rounding the bones, which is of a darker colour as well as 
more tenacious than that in which no bones were found, may 
have abstracted a large proportion of the animal matter, and 
be the principal cause of the extremely fragile state of the 
bones ? for they are now so absorbent, that if the largest of 
them be applied to the surface of the tongue, they adhere so 
firmly as to support their whole weight. In this, they 
resemble those bones which were discovered in 1816, and 
1820; most of them being as white and fragile as though 
they had been calcined. 
It would appear that the loss of animal matter, and conse- 
quent decay or decomposition of fossil bones, depends very 
much upon the nature of the soil in which they are deposited, 
