_Paleontology._--No paleontological remains have as yet been reported from glacière caves. No bones of animals have been found, except those of bats in Skerisora[37] and a few of the common genus _bos_.[38] No relics of the handiwork of man have been discovered; nor, indeed, with the exception of the skeletons found in the cave of Yeermallik in Kondooz,[39] anything which reveals the presence of man in glacières or that they were ever used for habitation. The reason that there are so few remains in glacière caves is undoubtedly because their temperatures are too low for their occupation by animal or man; but, from the evidence afforded by their non-occupation, may be drawn the valuable inference that the glacière caves of to-day were glacière caves long ago. [37] See Part III.: Skerisora, page 245. [38] See Part I.: Saint-Livres, page 68. [39] See Part III.: Yeermallik, page 261. _Legends and Religion._--There are scarcely any legends connected with glacières. I know only of one about one of the caves of the Mont Parmelan.[40] Nor does there seem to be any reference to glacière caves in works of fiction. Dante makes his last hell full of an ice lake, but an attentive perusal fails to reveal a single line which in any way describes or suggests a glacière. In at least two cases,[41] however, the ice in caves is connected with religion, as in Kashmere, the Hindoos, and in Arizona, the Zuni Indians, either worship or pray at glacière caves, overawed, from some mystical feeling, by the permanence of the ice formations which they connect with their deities. [40] See Part III.: Glacière de l'Enfer, page 216. [41] See Part III.: Amarnath, page 262; Cave, White Mountains, Arizona, page 176. II. The cause of the formation of subterranean ice is undoubtedly one of the most intricate problems in connection with caverns. Various theories have been advanced why ice is found in certain caves and not in others. Some writers have held that it is a remnant of a glacial period; others that it is owing to the presence of salts in the rocks; some have said that it is due to the rocks retarding waves of heat and cold; and still others think that it is formed by pressure on the percolating waters. Many of these theories were formulated in explanation of the belief of peasants living near the caves, who almost always say that the ice is formed in summer and melts in winter. Most scientific observers on the other hand claim that the ice is due to the cold of winter, and a few think that it is formed or helped by draughts and by evaporation and expansion of the air. The variety of opinions put forth, show at any rate the intricacy of the problem.