My friend Mr. O'Reilly, Professor of Mineralogy to the Royal College of Science, Dublin, has kindly permitted me to examine a collection of fossil remains made by himself and Professor Sullivan, of Queen's College, Cork, when engaged in surveying the mineralogy and geology of the province of Santander.
The conditions under which the remains were found are fully detailed in the able reports of these gentlemen, published in the 4th volume of the 'Atlantis,' and reprinted in a separate volume entitled 'Notes on the Geology and Mineralogy of the Spanish Provinces of Santander and Madrid.'
It appears that, during the sinking of a shaft in search of calamine in limestone underlying the dolomite of the valley of Udias, the workmen, at about 12 metres from the surface, suddenly broke into a cavern of considerable dimensions. At the north end of the cavity was a mound of soil which had fallen down a funnel blocked up at the time of the discovery by surface-soil and débris. Close to this mound were found many bones of mammals and birds. The remains were either partially or entirely buried in calamine, which covered the floor and formed an enormous bed of variable thickness. It appears, therefore, not only from the large funnel, which was evidently the original opening, but also from the remains, that the cavern was an enlarged joint or rock-fissure, into which the entire carcasses or else the live animals had been precipitated from time to time.
The following, I am informed, does not represent the entire produce of the cave (or, as it is named, the Dolores Mine). The authors refer further to a long curved tooth, oval in transverse section, possibly the canine of Hippopotamus.
This identification of remains of the Mammoth in Spain is, as far as I know, the first authenticated instance of the kind, and therefore important in relation to the southern distribution of the species; for although the elephant-remains found in many parts of Europe have been referred to the latter, it is well known that teeth of Elephas antiquus, Elephas meridionalis, and the so-called Elephas armeniacus have been confounded with molars of the Mammoth. Moreover the asserted presence of remains of Elephas africanus in Pleistocene deposits[1] near Madrid is another highly important incident in connexion with Spain, whilst Mr. Smith, of Jordan Hill, discovered a molar of Elephas antiquus at Gibraltar[2].
