PARIS — The bodies of five babies, including four hidden in a freezer, were discovered in a house in southern France after a man told the police he had found the corpse of a baby in a cooler bag in his home, a senior police official said Friday.

The official, Christophe Crépin, a spokesman for the UNSA police union, said the discovery of the babies’ bodies came to light on Thursday when the man, a 40-year-old farmer, contacted the police after he discovered a newborn’s body in an isothermal bag at his family’s home in Louchats, a rural village about 30 kilometers south of Bordeaux. After the police searched the home, they discovered four other corpses of babies in a large freezer, he said.

Mr. Crépin said the man had been detained and was being questioned by the police, while his wife, age 35, had been taken to the hospital to undergo psychological and gynecological examinations. The couple have two daughters ages 13 and 15.

The police said they were still investigating the mysterious deaths and were considering several possibilities, including whether infanticide had been committed, whether the babies had been stillborn, or whether the mother had been suffering from a condition in which women deny they are pregnant.