The history of the pleistocene mammalia, in which palæolithic man forms the central figure, has been my especial study for many years. And the evidence which is offered by the animals as to the geography and climate of Europe, which I have published from time to time in the works of the Palæontographical Society, the _Geological Journal_, and in the _Popular Science_, _British Quarterly_, and _Edinburgh Reviews_, is collected together in this work, and brought into relation with the inquiry into the extension of ice over Europe in the glacial period, and into the soundings of the European seas. In approaching these and the like problems, I have done my best to arrive at the truth by visiting as far as possible the foreign localities and collections, and by correspondence with the discoverers of new facts. In addition to those names which I have already mentioned, I have to express my thanks to the Councils of the Society of Antiquaries, the Geological Society, and of the Anthropological Institute and to Mr. John Evans, for the use of woodcuts; to Mr. Rooke Pennington for looking over some of the proof sheets; and to Professors Gaudry, Rütimeyer, Lortet, Nilsson, and Steenstrüp, and the Rev. Canon Greenwell for aid of various kinds. But especially do I feel grateful to my old friend and master, the late lamented Professor Phillips, for frequent help and prudent counsel. In laying this book before my readers I would merely further remark, that it is a faint outline of a new and vast field of research, in which I have attempted to give prominence to the more important points, rather than a finished and detailed history of cave-exploration. W. B. D. THE OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER, _20th July, 1874_. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. PAGE Legends and Superstitions connected with Caves 1-5 The Physical Division of the Subject 5, 6 The Biological Division 6 Men and Animals 6 Ethnological, Archæological, and Geographical Bearings 7-9 The Three Classes of Bone-Caves 10, 11 History of Cave-Exploration in Europe 11 ” ” Germany 11, 12 ” ” Great Britain 13-18 ” ” France 18-20 ” ” Belgium 20, 21 ” ” Southern Europe 21, 22 CHAPTER II. PHYSICAL HISTORY OF CAVES. Caves formed by the Sea and by Volcanic Action 23 Caves in Arenaceous Rocks 24