. Elements of geology : a text-book for colleges and for the general reader. Geology. LIFE OF THE QUATERNARY PERIOD. 577 mired and perished; 4. In ice-cliffs and frozen soils, where they have been hermetically seeded and preserved to the present time. 1. Bone-Caverns.—The richest sources of Quaternary mammalian remains are undoubtedly bone-caverns. These occur in nearly all coun- tries, often along the course of streams, but high above the present stream-level. Their formation and their filling are in some way con- nected with the floods of the Interglacial and Champlain epochs. They are rich
. Elements of geology : a text-book for colleges and for the general reader. Geology. LIFE OF THE QUATERNARY PERIOD. 577 mired and perished; 4. In ice-cliffs and frozen soils, where they have been hermetically seeded and preserved to the present time. 1. Bone-Caverns.—The richest sources of Quaternary mammalian remains are undoubtedly bone-caverns. These occur in nearly all coun- tries, often along the course of streams, but high above the present stream-level. Their formation and their filling are in some way con- nected with the floods of the Interglacial and Champlain epochs. They are rich in organic remains to a degree which is almost incredi- ble. One of the most striking peculiarities of these remains is, that they often consist of a heterogeneous mixture of all hinds, carnivorous and herbivorous, and all sizes, from the Elephant and Cave-bear on the one hand down to Eats and Weasels on the other; sometimes perfect, more often broken, mingled with earth and gravel, forming uhstratified bone-rubbish. Another peculiarity of these deposits is that they are often covered and, as it were, sealed by a stalagmitic crust formed by subsequent drippings from the roof, and thus preserved against even the suspicion of disturbance to the present time. We give (Fig. 944) a section of the cave of Gailenreuth, with its bone-rubbish and stalag- mitic crust. Among the remains of Herbivores found in bone-caverns, the most remarkable are those of the Elephant, Ehinoceros, Hippopotamus, the great Irish Elk, besides Horses and Oxen. Among Carnivores are the Cave-bear (Ursus spelceus), larger than the Grizzly, the Cave-hyena,* the Cave-lion,* the Saber-toothed Tiger (Machairodus latidens), with its saber-like tusks, ten inches long, besides smaller animals of the same order. The remains of the larger Carnivora, especially the Cave-bear. Fig. 945.—Skull of Ursus speL-eus, x £. and the Cave-hyena, are the most abundant. The bones of the smaller Herbivores bear the marks of teeth,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgeology, bookyear1892
