HARD WICKE 'S SCIENCE - GOSSIP. 



163 



cannot understand this uppermost flower expanding 

 before those below it, as if it were really terminal. 

 For a flower-stalk of a perennial stock to bear two 

 flowers instead of one does not seem very unusual, 

 but for the same stalk to have lateral flowers below, 

 which do not expand until after those at the top, 

 seems to me so unprecedented that, if I am mis- 

 taken in considering it remarkable, I would rather 

 expose my ignorance to your readers than lose an 

 opportunity of having it removed by reading of any 

 similar phenomenon, if such has been observed. — 

 John Gibbs, Essex and Chelmsford Museum. 



Claytonia perfoliata. — This plant is well 

 established on the border of Epping Forest, near 

 Walthamstow. From its position by the side of a 

 ditch and outside a fence, it is probably an outcast. 

 It is now (June 2) blooming and shedding its beauti- 

 ful black seeds freely along a strip of ground some 

 twenty yards in length, where it is successfully strug- 

 gling for life with chickweed, dock, and other com- 

 mon plants. From its succulence it dries slowly, 

 but when mounted makes a nice addition to the 

 herbarium. — J. T. Poivell. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Winds, &c. — !Mr. William Leighton Jordan, 

 F.R.G.S., has written a well got-up bi-ochiire \i\\\(ih. 

 cannot fail to interest all geologists and others con- 

 cerned in the study of physical geography. It is 

 entitled "The Winds, and their Story of the World," 

 and is published by Hardwicke & Bogue, 192, 

 Piccadilly. 



The Bone-caves of Cresswell Crags. — The 

 Rev. J. M. Mello, F.G.S., has read another paper 

 on this subject before the Geological Society. The 

 author gave an account of the continued exploration 

 of these caves, and of the completion of the examina- 

 tion of the Robin Hood Cave. Five deposits could 

 be distinguished in the Robin Hood Cave. Variations 

 both in thickness and in character occur in different 

 parts of the cave. The surface-soil yielded traces of 

 Romano-British occupation, such as enamelled bronze 

 fibulae, fragments of pottery, &c. The most im- 

 portant discoveries were made in the cave-earth, and 

 chief among these was a fragment of bone, having 

 on it a well-executed outline of the head and neck of 

 a horse, the first recorded discovery of any such 

 work of art in this country. The cave-earth also 

 yielded a canine of Machairodus latidens, hitherto 

 obtained in England only in Kent's Hole. Numerous 

 remains of the Pleistocene mammalia already re- 

 corded were found, together with a great number of 

 implements of quartzite and flints, and two of clay 

 ironstone. The quartzite implements were most 

 abundant in the lowest bed. In the other cave ex- 

 amined, the Church Hole, Avhich consists principally 



of a long fissure in the south side of the crags oppo- 

 site Robin Hood's Cave, the succession of beds was 

 nearly the same as in the latter. In the surface-soil 

 near its mouth a fine bronze brooch was found. Some 

 of the implements met with in the cave-earth were of 

 great intei'est, and several of them were of bone. Bones 

 of rhinoceros were found in great abundance ; and 

 those of the Mammoth, Horse, &c. , were also plen- 

 tiful. As the result of the exploration of these caverns, 

 the author said it is evident that during the Pleistocene 

 period Derbyshire and the adjoining counties were 

 inhabited by a very numerous and diversified fauna, 

 the vast forests and pastures, which extended far to 

 the east and south, offering a congenial home to the 

 Mammoth, the Woolly Rhinoceros, the Hippopota- 

 mus, the Irish Elk, the Reindeer, the Bison, and the 

 Horse ; whilst among them the Hyaena, the Glutton, 

 the Bear, the Lion, the Wolf, the Fox, and the great 

 sabre-toothed Machairodus roamed in search of prey ; 

 and that with these and other animals man lived and 

 waged a more or less precarious struggle, amidst the 

 vicissitudes of a varying climate, sheltering himself 

 in the numerous caves of the district, which were 

 already the haunts of the Hyaena and its com- 

 panions. After Mr. Mello had concluded, Professor 

 W. Boyd Dawkins followed with a paper on the 

 "Mammal Fauna" of the same cave. In this 

 paper the author gave an account of the remains 

 found in the caves explored by the Rev. J. M. 

 Mello. He stated that the recent explorations 

 had proved that the Robin Hood Cave was inha- 

 bited by hycenas, not only during the deposition 

 of the cave-earth and breccia, but also during that of 

 the red-sand clay underlying it, which had also 

 furnished traces of the existence of man. An im- 

 mense number of specimens were collected in this 

 cavern, including bones of the following animals : — 

 Machairodtis latidens, Cave Lion, Wild Cat, Leopard^ 

 Spotted Hyrena*, Fox*, Wolf, Bear, Reindeer*, Irish 

 Elk *, Bison *, Horse *, Woolly Rhinoceros *, Mam- 

 moth *, and Hare * ; those marked with an * occur- 

 ring in the red sand and clay as' well as in the cave- 

 earth, although much more sparingly. The traces of 

 man consisted of more than 1,000 implements ; and, 

 as before, those made of quartzite were generally 

 found in the lower strata. The most important indi- 

 cation of human handiwoi-k was the outline of the 

 head and fore quarters of a horse, engraved upon a 

 fragment of the rib of some animal. Among the 

 animal remains the most interesting discovery was 

 that of a canine of Machairodus latidens ; it 

 consisted of the sabre-shaped crown only, which 

 appeared to have been purposely broken away from 

 the root. The superficial layer of earth in the cave 

 contained remains belonging to the historic and pre- 

 historic ages, including a Romano-British enamelled 

 bronze brooch, of the same pattern as one found in 

 the Victoria Cave ; fragments of pottery, human 

 bones and teeth, and bones of both wild and domestic 



