3$ Ihe Irish Naturalist, March 



becomes spread out and mixed with the river-borne sediments. 

 Thus we find that caves contain very different strata, indicating 

 the changed conditions of bygone ages. 



Floors of stalagmite formed by the drip from the limestone 

 roof, not only sheet over the other deposits, but seal them up 

 and preserve them from disturbance, and in some cases a sheet 

 of stalagmite intervening between beds of other materials, 

 supplies a valuable land-mark. 



Thus the contents of a cave supply several chapters in the 

 history, each of which is illustrated by the bones and other 

 relics it contains. The uppermost bed contains the most 

 modern objects, and the deeper we go the more ancient will be 

 the cave fauna, unless where burrowing animals have disturbed 

 the strata. It is therefore of the first importance that indiscri- 

 minate rooting-up should be avoided, and that the several 

 strata should be distinguished, constant notes, drawings and 

 measurements taken, and all objects found in one bed kept 

 separate from those in the next, with labels and other safe- 

 guards against confusing them. 



The best illustration I can give is Kent's Cavern in Devon- 

 shire, so carefully worked by Mr. Pengelly for 14 years. He 

 strained a wire from front to back of the principal chamber, 

 and measured all the distances to right or left or below this. 

 He took out the contents in cubes, and assigned to the objects 

 found in each a separate box labelled with its position. 



Upon the surface were found masses of limestone, blocks 

 fallen from the roof ; between and under these a blackish 

 mould formed of leaves and other rubbish blown in during 

 centuries. In this were found bones of domestic animals and 

 of wild animals that are not extinct, with a great variety of 

 human relics going back to Roman times and earlier. This 

 stratum told of the historic period, and is computed to repre- 

 sent 2,000 years at least. Beneath it was a floor of granular 

 stalagmite, that had in places attained a thickness of five feet. 

 Beneath this was a light red cave-earth, the sediment of 

 ancient floods, and in this were the relics of the Pleistocene 

 fauna — the Mammoth, Rhinoceros, Lion, Hyaena, Irish Elk, 

 and Reindeer, but no domestic animals. 



With these extinct animals were associated the beautifuUy- 

 furmed spear-heads made from flint flakes by Palaeolithic men, 

 whose hearth-place, a bed of charcoal, was strewn with the 

 chips of flint. We are brought face to face with the home life 



