OCR Text |
Show 142 NEWER PLIOCENE PERIOD· [Ch. XI. sand agam. I•S t 11 e secon d ary 11' mes t o ne of Monte Grifone. The state o f t l1 e sune a ce o f tl1e limestone in the cave abov. e the level o f t h e man·n c san d 1's very different from that below It. Above, t 11 e roc k I·s J· agge d and uneven ' as is usual. in the roofs and. sides of limestone caverns; below, the surface lS smooth and pohshed, as if by the attrition of the waves. So enormous was the quantity of bones, that many ship-loads were exported in the years 1829 and 1830, in the hope of their retaining enough gelatine to serve for refining sugar, for which, however, they proved useless. The bones belong chiefly to the mammoth (E. p·rimigenius), and with them are those of an hippopotamus, smaller than the species usually found fossil, and distinct from the recent. Several species of deer were also found with the above*· The remains of a bear, also, are said to have been discovered. It is easy to explain in what manner the cavern of Mardolce was in part filled with sea-sand, and how the surface of the limestone became perforated by lithodomi; but in what manner, when the elevation of the rocks and the ancient beach had taken place, was the superimposed osseous breccia formed? The extraordinary number of the imbedded animal remains precludes, we think, at once the supposition of the whole having been heaped up together by a single catastrophe. Let us suppose that, when the caves were at a moderate elevation above the level of the sea, they were exposed, during a succession of earthquakes, to be inundated again and again by waves rolling in upon the land till they reached the base of an inland cliff, not far from the shore. Reiterated catastrophes may thus have occurred, like that of 1783 in Calabria, when a wave broke in upon the coast, and after sweeping away 1400 of the in- · habitants and many cattle, threw in upon the land, on its return, the bodies of men and the carcasses of animals, mingled with sand and pebbles. Caves so flooded might be inhabited by some animals, and others might retreat into them during a period of alarm. 'iV e attach no importance, however, to these • Cuvier1 Disc. Prelim., Jl· 345, 6th Ed, Ch. XI.] BRECCIAS IN AUSTRALIAN CAVES. 143 speculations, but merely throw them out as hints for those who may re-examine these caves and be desirous of collecting additional facts. Two other caverns are described by Dr. Christie as occurring in Mount Beliemi, about four miles west of Palermo, at a higher elevation than that of Mardolce, being more than 300 feet above the level of the sea. In one of these localities the bones are only found in a talus at the outside of the cavern; in the other, they occur both within the cave and in the talus which slopes from it to the plain below. These caves appear to be situated much above the highest point attained by the tertiary deposits in this neighbourhood, nor is there the slightest appearance in the caves themselves of the sea having been there*. 'fhe breccias in these caves may have qriginated in the manner before suggested, vol. ii. chap. xiii. Au1~fralian Breccias.-In several parts of Australia, ossifferous breccias have lately been discovered in limestone caverns, and the remains of the fossil mammalia are found to be referrible to species now living in that country, mingled with some relics of extinct animals. Many of these have been examined by Major Mitchell in the Wellington Valley, about 210 miles west from Sidney, on the river Bell, one of the principal sources of the Macquarrie, and on the Macquarrie itself. The caverns appear to correspond closely with those which contain similar osseous breccias in Europe; they often branch off in different directions through the rock, widening and contracting their dimensions, the roofs and floors being covered with stalactite. The bones are often broken, but do not appear water-worn. In some caves and fissures they lie imbedded in loose earth, but usually they are included in a breccia, having a red ochreous cement as hard as limestone, and like that of the Mediterranean caves. The remains found most abundantly are those of the kangaroo. Amongst others, those of the · Wombat, Dasyurus, • Dr. T. Christie, on certain Newer Deposits in Sicily, &c,-Jameson 1 Ed, New Phil, J ourn., No. xxiii. p. 1, |