350 
respecting these phaenomena, are, “ 1. The osseous brecciae have not 
been produced by either a tranquil sea, or by a sudden irruption of 
the sea. 2. They are even posterior to the last resting of the sea on 
our continents, since no traces are found in them of any sea-shells, 
and they are not covered by other beds. 3. The bones and the frag- 
ments of stone fell in the clefts of the rocks, successively, and as they 
fell, became united together by the accumulation of the spathose 
matter. 4. Almost all the stones proceed from the rock, even those 
in the clefts which contain the breccia. 5. All the bones, properly 
ascertained, are those of herbivorous animals. 6. The greatest 
number of them belong to known animals, and even to animals still 
existing in those parts. /. The formation of these brecciae, therefore, 
appears to be modern, in comparison Avith the great regular beds of 
stone, and with the alluvial beds which contain the bones of unknown 
animals. 8. It is nevertheless still ancient, with respect to us, since 
nothing shows that such brecciae are formed at the present day ; and 
some of them, as those of Corsica, contain also the remains of un- 
known animals. 9- The most striking character which this pheno- 
menon presents is rather the facility with which certain rocks have 
been thus divided by clefts, than the matters with which these clefts 
are filled. 10. This phenomenon is very different from that which 
is yielded by the caverns of Germany, which contain the bones of 
carnivorous animals only, spread on the ground, in a mould partly 
earthy and partly animal ; although the nature of the rocks in which 
these caverns are formed appear to be not very different from those 
which contain the ossiferous brecciae.” 
At Plate XX. Fig. 4, is the representation of a part of a jaw of 
some ruminant, seemingly of a stag, imbedded in the reddish cal- 
careous mass of Gibraltar. 
