It was not, however, until the close of the eighteenth century that the exploring of caves was carried on systematically, or their contents examined with any scientific precision. The caves of Franconia, in the neighbourhood of Muggendorf, were described by Esper in 1774, by Rosenmuller in 1804, and six years later by Dr. Goldfuss. The most important was that of Gailenreuth, both from the vast quantity of remains which it was proved to contain, and the investigations to which it led. The bones of the hyæna, lion, wolf, fox, glutton, and red deer were identified by Baron Cuvier; while some of the skulls which Dr. Goldfuss obtained have been recently proved, by Professor Busk, to belong to the grizzly bear. They were associated with the bones of the reindeer, horse and bison. Rosenmuller was of opinion that the cave had been inhabited by bears for a long series of generations; and he thus realized that these remains proved that the animals found in the cave had once lived in that district, and had not been swept from the tropics by the deluge. The interest in these discoveries was at its height in the year 1816, when Dr. Buckland visited the cave, and acquired that knowledge of cave-exploring which he was subsequently to use with such good effect in this country.[8] From this time down to the present day, no new fact of importance has been added to our knowledge of caves by explorations in Germany. _Great Britain._--The first bone-cave systematically explored in this country was that discovered by Mr. Whidbey,[9] in the Devonian limestone at Oreston, near Plymouth, in 1816; and the remains obtained from it were identified by Sir Everard Home as implying the existence of the rhinoceros in that region. This discovery followed close upon the researches in Gailenreuth, and was due in some degree to the request which Sir Joseph Banks made, that Mr. Whidbey, in quarrying the stone for the Plymouth breakwater, should examine the contents of any caverns that he might happen to meet with. It preceded Dr. Buckland’s exploration of Kirkdale by about four years.