BONE-CAVERNS.
Even in Australia, caves with ossiferous breccia are numerous; but the bones belong to extinct marsupial animals of genera still existing in the country (see Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1844; Petrif. p. 133; and Wond. p. 188). In England, several caverns presenting similar phenomena have been discovered. That of Kirkdale, near Kirby Moorside, Yorkshire, is well known from the celebrity it acquired by the graphic illustration of its contents by Dr. Buckland.[765] This cave, or rather fissure, for its dimensions were too limited to merit the name of cavern, was situated in oolitic limestone; it was two hundred and fifty feet long, from two to fourteen high, and six or seven wide. The floor was occupied by a bed of indurated mud, covered over with a thick crust of stalagmite; the roof and sides being invested with a similar calcareous sparry coating, as is commonly the case in all fissures in limestone rocks.[766] From this cave were obtained numerous bones of Hyænas, associated with bones, more or less fractured, of Tiger, Bear, Wolf, Fox, Weasel, Elephant, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Horse, Deer, Ox, Hare or Rabbit, Mouse, Water-rat, and fragments of skeletons of Ravens, Pigeons, Larks, and Ducks. Many of the bones exhibited marks of having been gnawed, and crushed by the teeth of some animals. From all the facts observed, and which are detailed by Dr. Buckland with his wonted graphic power, it is inferred that the cave was inhabited for a considerable period by Hyænas; that many of the remains found there were of individuals carried in and devoured by those animals, and that in some instances the hyænas preyed upon each other. The portions of bone referable to the elephant seem to prove that occasionally the large mammalia were also obtained for food; but it is probable that the smaller animals were either drifted in by currents of water, or fell into the chasm through fissures now closed up by stalactitical incrustations.
[765] Dr. Buckland’s celebrated work, "Reliquiæ Diluvianæ," contains an admirable description of these caverns and their contents, with numerous plates. The student, in consulting this volume, must separate the facts from the diluvial theory, which, at the period of its publication (1823), they were supposed by Dr. Buckland and other eminent geologists to confirm.
[766] For a general description of the cave at Kirkdale, see Wond. p. 179; and for details, Reliq. Diluv. pp. 1-19. The ossiferous caves at Kirkdale, Torquay, and Banwell are noticed, Petrif. p. 482.
Kent’s Cave, near Torquay, Oreston Cave, near Plymouth, and several other caves in Devonshire, have yielded great numbers of bones and teeth of Carnivora and Pachydermata (see Reliq. Diluv. p. 67).
Kent’s Hole is the most productive ossiferous cavern in England, and its vicinity to Torquay renders it of easy access. An extensive collection of teeth and bones was obtained from this cave by the late Rev. J. MacEnery, comprising, in addition to the usual extinct Carnivora, skulls and teeth of Badger (Meles taxus), Otter (Lutra vulgaris), Pole-cat (Putorius vulgaris), Stoat or Ermine (P. erminius), &c. A selection of the choicest specimens in this collection is deposited in the British Museum.
In Glamorganshire, two large caverns, called Goat’s Hole, and Paviland Cave, containing numerous bones of Bear, Hyæna, Wolf, Fox, Rhinoceros, Elephant, &c., are situated in a lofty cliff of limestone, between Oxwich Bay and the Worm’s Head, on the property of Earl Talbot, fifteen miles west of Swansea (Reliq. Diluv. p. 82).
FOSSIL CARNIVORA.
In the western district of the Mendip Hills, in Somersetshire, there are several ossiferous fissures and caves. The most interesting are those of Hutton, on the northern escarpment of Bleadon Hill; and of Banwell, lying about a mile to the east of Hutton. They contain remains of two species of bear, one (Ursus spelæus) of immense size and strength; and of Tiger, Hyæna, Wolf, Fox, Deer, Ox, and Elephant.[767]
[767] See a Memoir "On the Caverns and Fissures in the Western District of the Mendip Hills," by the late Rev. D. Williams. Proc. Royal Society, June 2, 1831, p. 55.