The caves of Germany the richest in bones are those of _Franconia_, of which _J. F. Esper_, a clergyman of the country of _Bayreuth_, has given a very detailed description in a work, printed in French and German, entitled, _Description des Zoolithes nouvellement decouvertes_, &c. _Nuremberg Knorr._ 1774, folio, with 14 coloured plates, and in a memoir inserted among those of the _Berlin Society of Naturalists_, vol. ix. 1784, p. 56. Another description was afterwards given, under the title of _Objets dignes de remarque des environs de Muggendorf_, by J. C. Rosenmüller, folio, with coloured views, Berlin, 1804. And more lately, M. Goldfuss, at present Professor of Natural History at Bonn, and Secretary of the _Academia Naturæ Curiosorum_, has made them the subject of a particular work printed in 1810 in German, under the title of _Environs of Muggendorf_, in which he describes them with the greatest care, as well as the surrounding country, of which he gives a very correct topographical chart. A great part of these caves is situated in a small bailiwick, named _Streitberg_, which was formerly a dependence upon the country of _Bayreuth_, but was inclosed in that of _Bamberg_, and now forms part of the kingdom of Bavaria. The greatest number occur in a small peninsula, formed by the river of _Wiesent_, which falls into the Pegnetz, and belongs to the basin of the _Main_. However, the chief of all these astonishing caves, those of _Gaylenreuth_, are beyond the limits of this peninsula, being on the left bank of the Wiesent, to the north-west of the village from which it derives its name. The entrance is perforated in a vertical rock; it is 7½ feet high, and faces the east. The first cave turns to the right, and is upwards of 80 feet long. The unequal heights of the vault divide it into four parts; the first three are from 15 to 20 feet high, the fourth is only 4 or 5. At the bottom of this latter, on the level of the floor, there is a hole 2 feet high, which affords a passage to the second cave: it has first a direction to the south, over a length of 60 feet by 40 in breadth, and 18 in height; it then turns to the west for 70 feet, becoming lower and lower until at length the height is only 5 feet. The passage which leads to the third cave is very inconvenient, and one has to turn through various corridors: it is 30 feet across, and from 5 to 6 in height. The ground in it is kneaded with teeth and jaws. Near the entrance is a pit of from 15 to 20 feet, to which one descends by a ladder. After having descended, we come to a vault of 15 feet diameter by 30 in height; and towards the side at which the descent is made there is a cave strewed with bones. On still descending a little, a new arcade is met with, which leads to a cave 40 feet long, and a new pit of from 18 to 20 feet deep. After descending this, we reach a cavern about 40 feet high, all strewed with bones. A passage, of 5 feet by 7, leads to a grotto of 25 feet in length by 12 in breadth.