90 
ANIMALS OF THE CAVE. 
were found, and there were also bones of young in¬ 
dividuals belonging, with the exception of a few of 
the hyaena, to the herbivorous kinds. The remains 
of the elephant are indeed confined to two teeth of 
a young animal. Some of the bones have been at¬ 
tacked by inflammatory disease, and this occurs 
among the larger kinds of teeth which also in 
some instances are fractured, as if they had been 
submitted to great violence. Some pieces of bone 
are on one side highly polished, as if they had been 
subjected to great friction ; and Colonel Mudge 
. observed a part of the roof of the cavern which is 
lower than usual, perfectly smooth and glossy, as 
though it had been rendered so by the frequent 
transits of the tenants of the cave. . 
It is very difficult to determine on the precise 
number of species of animals found in this cave, 
since, besides that a very great quantity of the 
bones had been originally destroyed, our knowledge 
of fossil osteology is as yet very imperfect, and the 
broken condition they were found in, precludes 
the possibility of identifying a great many of them, 
even with the greatest facilities of comparison with 
other specimens. Add to this also, that not un- 
frequently fragments, and even teeth, are met with, 
which baffle the keenest discrimination, that a 
degree of uncertainty with respect to date often 
attaches to some of the animal remains deposited 
in ossiferous caverns, and that sometimes from a 
disparity in size, conjoined with a similarity in 
shape and figure of some series of teeth, a doubt 
arises whether there may not have existed several 
analogous species of such animals. This kind of 
doubt has unavoidably arisen in the present inves¬ 
tigation ; but it seems most reasonable to conclude, 
that there were two or even three species both of 
deer and horse, since there are series of teeth of 
these genera greatly differing in size. 
