ITS CHARACTERISTIC ANIMALS. 
191 
tildes was much milder then than it is at present. 
Bones of many of these animals were found in 
caverns in Germany, France, Italy, and England. 
Perhaps the story of Kirkdale Cave, where the 
first important discovery of this kind was made 
on English soil,, may not be so well known to 
American readers as to forbid its repetition here. 
It was in the summer of 1821 that some work- 
men, employed in quarrying stone upon the slope 
of a limestone hill at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, came 
accidentally upon the mouth of a cavern. Over- 
grown with grass and bushes, the mouth of this 
cave in the hill-side had been effectually closed 
against all intruders, and it was strange that its 
existence had never been suspected. The hole 
was small, but large enough to admit a man on 
his hands and knees ; and the workmen, creep- 
ing in through the opening, found that it led into 
a cavern, broad in some parts, but low through- 
out. There were only a few spots where a man 
could stand upright ; but it was quite extensive, 
with branches opening out from it, some of which 
have not yet been explored. The whole floor was 
strewn, from one end to the other, with hundreds 
of bones, like a huge dog-kennel. The workmen 
wondered a little at their discovery, but, remem- 
bering that there had been a murrain among the 
cattle in this region some years before, they camo 
to the conclusion that these must be the bones of 
