Dr. H. Falconer on the Ossiferous Caves of Glamorganshire. 299 



here the cavern rises to a height of 40 feet. When first opened, 

 the eastern wall only of the cavern was found to be coated with 

 stalagmite. The floor was tolerably smooth, and shelved down gra- 

 dually from the mouth to the extremity, the deposits being thicker 

 outwards. The floor having been excavated down to the hard brec- 

 cia, there were observed : — (1) at the top, a bed of sandy peat or 

 turf, formed chiefly of bits of sticks and comminuted vegetable mat- 

 ter, about 1 foot thick, except under the flue, where it formed a low 

 conical heap. In or on this peaty covering were bones of Ox and 

 Wolf, and bones and broken shed antlers of Deer, of species or 

 varieties allied to the Reindeer (Cervus Guettardi and Cerv. prisons). 

 (2) Stalagmite, regular, but usually less than a foot thick. At 

 one spot it rose into a boss 2 ft. 3 in. high, which was found in a 

 shattered condition, the fragments being loose, but still in place. 

 This must indicate — 1st, the operation of some shock since the for- 

 mation of the stalagmite, and even since the peat began to be 

 formed ; and 2ndly, the absence of drip in the cave since the shock 

 took place. (3) Sandy loam, 1 ft. 4 in., with fragments of rock 

 and without bones ; (4) sand, 2 ft. 6 in. ; (5) a bed of loose stony 

 breccia, 4 feet, without bones; (6) ochreous loam, or the usual 

 cave-earth, 6 to 7 feet thick, resting on the solid cemented breccia 

 which forms a floor or diaphragm between the upper and lower 

 chambers of the fissure. Ursus spelceus, Canis lupus, C. vulpes, 

 Bos, Cervus, and Arvicola occur in the loam, the latter in abundance. 

 The most remarkable circumstance about these remains was the 

 great excess of Deers' antlers above the others. Upwards of one 

 thousand antlers, mostly shed and of young animals belonging chiefly 

 to Cervus Guettardi, were collected. The lower chamber was pene- 

 trated by Col. Wood, Dr. Falconer, and a friend last September, and 

 found to have been washed out by the sea to a depth inwards of 3 1 

 feet; and at its extremity they met with a compact mass of marine sand 

 and gravel, about 9 feet thick. The solid breccia forming the roof 

 of the lower, and the base of the upper cave, increases in thickness 

 from 6 feet at the outside to a greater depth inwards. Its materials 

 correspond with the bed of angular debris observed by Mr. Prestwich 

 on the raised beach of Mewslade Bay. 



" Bowen's Parlour," or " Devil's Hole," is also a cavernous fissure 

 in the limestone cliff, situated between Bosco's Den and Crow Hole. 

 It has been washed out by the sea, — portions only of its cave-deposits 

 remaining, especially a diaphragm of cemented breccia, which divides 

 the fissure into an upper and lower story — the former about 20 feet 

 high at the mouth, the latter 14. Thin tabular aggregations of 

 sand adhere to the lower surface of the partition, showing that it 

 was deposited on a bed of sand. The same phenomena are repeated 

 in " Crow Hole " with modifications, the cave-deposits being still 

 in situ : here remains of Ursus, Meles, Rhinoceros, and some other 

 forms have been found by Col. Wood. 



" Raven's Cliff" presents a cavernous fissure broad and high ex- 

 ternally, contracted within. Here a thin crust of stalagmite 

 formed a floor upon sand 9 feet thick, which filled the fissure close 



20* 



