described) suggested, was, that the tumulus might have covered the remains of a mother and her infant, and this conjecture has been strikingly confirmed by subsequent investigation. On submitting the remains with which the small urn was filled to the examination of an eminent comparative anatomist, Mr. John Quekett, Assistant Curator of the Museum of the College of Surgeons, to whose obliging aid in elucidating questions connected with animal remains the Institute had previously been indebted,[1] that gentleman at once pointed out half-burnt fragments, which might undeniably he distinguished as portions of the skeleton of a very young infant, with other fragments, the remains of a young adult, the age presumed, from the occurrence of a fragment of the jaw-bone, enclosing one of the "wisdom teeth" not yet cut, to have been about twenty-four years. The bone of a frog was also found, with several small land shells; and, on close inspection of the sand, six or seven living specimens of the Ptinus fur appeared, some perfect insects, others in the pupa or larva state. These little beetles were unusually small and pale-coloured, arising, doubtless, from long confinement in so unusual a position, the Ptinus commonly feeding on wood, paper, or leather. A doubt has been expressed, whether it were possible that animal life could be thus preserved; and it was suggested that the insects might have found their way into the urn after its discovery. This, however, certainly had not occurred. The larger fragments of bone were all found to be channelled by the slow operations of these little creatures, whose food, in their larva state, these half-burnt remains had supplied. On submitting the insects and portions of bone to Mr. Westwood, one of our highest authorities in all that concerns insect life, he at once named the species, pointed out its diminutive growth, owing to unsuitable food and being kept from the air; and he recognised the slow operation of the larva in the furrowed bones, which served to sustain life. Mr. Westwood also stated that similar examples of the preservation of insects had come under his observation, and adverted especially to a remarkable instance noticed a few years since in Lancashire.[2]
Among the sand and bones, one small rivet, as it seemed, of bronze, in perfect preservation, was found; it measured
