On the Ossiferous Caves of the Peninsula of Gower. 243 



matrix : and the black sand yielded Helix hispida similarly attached. 

 In the interior, the cave-earth was thicker, and the black sandy 

 loam more unctuous. The mammalian remains were closely analo- 

 gous with those from Bacon Hole ; but the Elephant remains (E. 

 antiquus) were fewer, and those of Rhinoceros hemitccchus were more 

 numerous and better preserved, including two skulls. No remains 

 of Elephas primigenius or of Rhinoceros tichorhinus were met with 

 in Bacon Hole or Minehin Hole. 



" Bosco's Den " is a cavernous fissure, of great interest, between 

 " Bacon Hole " and " Minehin Hole." It is about 70 feet high, 

 and has been worked out by Col. Wood, who, having succeeded in 

 reaching a hole called (by the quarrymen) " Bacon's Eye," found it to 

 be an angular opening (2^ feet in diameter) at the top of one of the 

 great vertical fissures in the limestone, and leading into a fine cavern. 

 Beneath it the fissure was filled up with a mass of angular fragments 

 of limestone (with bones, teeth, and land shells) impacted in ochreous 

 loam, about 20 feet in height, resting on a solid platform of breccia, 

 beneath which the fissure had to a great extent been washed out by 

 the sea. On enlarging the aperture, by undermining the projecting 

 mass of loam and breccia, a cavity was found extending 76 feet 

 backwards, with a width of from 7 to 16 feet, and a general height 

 of about 15 feet. A line of fissure runs along the angle of the roof, 

 and towards the outer part of the cavern the crack widens into an 

 irregular flue, which had evidently communicated with the surface : 

 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. priscus). 

 (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 



