Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-06-18

everfound, are apt to be honeycombed with
holes big and little. The celebrated labyrinth
Of Crete was nothing more than a series of such
hollows In rock, helped out by few artificial
corridors between the vaultings which COM
posed this wonder of classic antiquity. The
whole island ia said to be 'worldbf caverns. T"
Nearly all accessible caves were in the past
tenanted by wild animals, which have left
enormous quantities Of their remains behind
them in such localities. In them the scientific
explorer discovers the osseous relics Of beasts
long extinct, which trod the earth thousands
upon thousands Of years ago. Quite commonly
these bones are not fossilized, but, being pre-
served by loamy sediment and limy incrusta-
ton, actually retain their original geiatine
Often those found in a single cavern, il thew
abroad, would suffice to furnish q score Of as
attractive menageries as ever accompanied q
circus. Nay, more, they would form mighty
herds OF strange creatures. many Of them most
formidable and ferocious, such as are only
known today by skeletons more or less incom-
plete.
TROPICAL BEASTS IN ENGLAND
One cave at Kirkdale in England was opened
accidentally not long ago by quarrymen, hav-
ing been closed and concealed for ages BY
detrirus overgrown with grass It was a ver,-
| table charnel house, crowded with the bones of
numerous species of animals among which
were many of elephants, rhinoceroses, hippo-
pOtami. tigers and hyenas. There were also
plentiful remains Of bears, wolves, oxen, deer,
foxes, weasels and several kinds of birds. Inas-
much as the diameter Of the hole was only
about three or four feet it was evident that the
great beasts above mentioned could not have
died there. Undoubtedly the bones were fetched
| thither by hyenas, which used the cavern as o
den. But what amazing conjectures respect
ing the fauna OF Great Britain during the epoch
when these creatures lived are suggested by the
discovery Of such relics Of giant pachyderms
and great carnivores in that region!
Evidently the climate in that latitude must
have been tropical during the lifetime of the
beasts. At present the elephant, rhinoceros,
hlppOpotamus and hyena are only found near
the equator. But in far northern Siberia, where
now eternal cold reigns, must formerly have
been everlasting summer, judging from the fos-
sill palms and crocodiles found in that region so
abundantly. Along the shores Of the Arctic
ocean, from Archangei to Boring strait, the
bones OF elephants are occasionally discovered
in enormous heaps. At the mouth of the Lena
river there are whole islands composed of such
bones and mud. Such quantities Of them are
sometimes incased in icebergs as to form an i'm
portant article Of commerce, being melted out
by the heat Of the sun during the short warm
season on the coast of Tungusia.
Lieut.. Kotzebue discovered in the western
part Of the gulf to the north Of Bering strait a
mountain of solid ice covered with moss and
grass. The surface OF this extraordinary hill
was composed Of earth and sand, only about six
inches thick beneath which the ice was grad
ually melting. As 1t melted great numbers of
the bones and teeth of mammoths we're ex-
posed to view. The story Of the mammoth's
carcase, found with all its flesh entire in the
frozen gravel of Tungusia, where It had pre-
sumably been buried for something like 100 900
years, is already familiar one. few years
In similar condition Of preservation was
unearthed in Siberia. The head and feet of the
animal are now in q museum at st. Petersburg,
together with a large quantity of its wool. So
numerously are the remains of mammoths
dug up in that part Of the world that their
tusks thus obtained have for many years formed
large part Of the entire market supply Of
ivory. The name mammoth, " meaning .sni-
NAL Of the earth, was originally conferred by
the natives, who supposed that the huge crea-
ture lived underground like a mole.
COLLECTED BY HYENAs.
To return to the cave at Kirkdale There is
no doubt that the bones found there were COL
lected and brought into the cavern by the
hyenas, the marks of whose teeth are to be
plainly seen upon them. 1t is not to be sup
posed that these carnivores, fierce though they
were, were able to kill rhinoceroses, hippo
potami and tigers; but they would have no Diff
fculty in Remembering with their powerful
jaws such great beasts if they found the latter
dead. The hyenas Of today are famous scaven-
gers, clearing the plains of carcasses and even
carrying away skeletons which the yuitures
have picked clean. Their love Of putrid flesh
induces them to follow armies for the purpose
OF dislnterring human bodies. They inhabit
holes in the earth and chasms In rocks, are ex-
ceedingly fierce and often attack stronger quad
rupeds than themselves.
Thus it is not surprising that these hyeYaa of
long ago, which were much bigger and proba-
bly, more ferocious than any of the three species
now existing, should have made such vast accu-
mutation of bones in caves, whittier they
brought them for the purpose Of devouring
them. lnasmuch as they eat each others dead
bodies, and even attack and gObble up any Of
their own kind which are sick or wounded. the
presence of very many hyenas' bones in the
same caverns, similarly gnawed. does not excite
astOnishment. In the collections made by them
are discovered numerous teeth, among them
better preserved than any of the other
bones, being harder and protected by the
enamel. Not a few of the hysnas' teeth are
ground almost to stumps, and in them are
evidently the instruments by which the other
osseous remnants were so broken up that
hardly single bone can be found whole
Hyenas conceal themselves in their dens
during the day and seek their prey at night.
having large and prominent eyes, like those of
the rat and mouse, for seeing in the dark
Such caves are to be found all over Europe
In many of the largest ones more bones have
been discovered than could have been supplied
by ten times the number Of carcasses which
they could have contained at one time IL
crammed entirely full. In some instances, PAR
ticularly In those of certain caverns in Ger
many, the bones are mostly those of bears
which lived and died in the rocky holes for
generation after generation. There were great
bears in olden times, the biggest Of them az
large as big horses. And SO plentiful were these
monsters that in places their skulls and other
remains have formed a sort of pudding
stone that has been used for build
Ing purposes. Sometimes they are ac-
cumulated in the caves in beds and
heaps many feet thick. In the caverns of
Gailenreuth and Mockas most of them are in
closed in and cementsd together with stalaotite,
formed by liquid lime droppings. SO as to make
compact mass. Thus they have been per-
fectly preserved, and, not having been gnawed,
they retain their original form. Numerous
bones of baby bears show that the creatures
bred in the caverns.
However, in respect 10 the animal remains
found In H. the most remarkable cave in the
world Is that at Kuhioch, Germany. In this
single cavern, the size and proportions Of which
are about equal to those of large church, there
are hundreds Of carloads of black animal dust
covering the whole floor to q depth Of more
than six feet. The entire quantity Of this mate
rial which is composed wholly Of the disin-
tegrated bones Of animals, would exceed 5000
cubic feet. The condition Of the fragments Of
bones found in it is different from that of such
remains in any other cave, such bones being
black and readily crumbling between