io4 The Irish Naturalist. [ April, 



which I name '* the Chapel," is a real gem, provided with the 

 thinnest of curtains, and the finest needles of brilliant white 

 carbonate of lime. In spite of the restricted dimensions, 

 there is a marvellous corner there, which has not its equal in 

 all the rest of the cave, even in the hall called *' Cust's Cave," 

 which is also pretty well ornamented. It was supposed that 

 this gallery of the ancient stream (O'Callaghan's and Brog- 

 den's Caves) had never been explored to the end : this is not 

 correct. I found, at a few steps from the extremity, on a 

 ledge of the vault, three inscriptions : *' Raymond, May, 1840 " ; 

 " Brogden (whose name has been given to the last corridor), 

 5th October, 1868"; the third was illegible. So that all the 

 grotto was known (except some little clefts in the south-west, 

 into which I crawled with great trouble and without any 

 result). But it is very possible that the talus of broken stones 

 which blocks up the end of Brogden's Cave, is not a real end, 

 but that a partial falling in of the vault has only obstructed 

 the gallery ; it would be very interesting to make a clearing 

 there to seek if there does not exist a prolongation of the 

 beautiful gallery of the dried-up stream. 



To sum up, three things are remarkable in Mitchelstown 

 Cave : — 



ist. Its ramification in every direction, and the infinite sub- 

 divisions of its central part. 



2nd. Its extent, which attains and even exceeds, including 

 all the passages, one mile and a quarter ; this must be the 

 longest cave, yet known, in the British Isles. 



3rd. Its blind fauna. It is the only grotto in England, 

 Scotland, or Ireland, where, up to the present time, there 

 have been found animals peculiar only to caverns. ^ Mr. H. 

 I^yster Jameson occupied himself during several days in the 

 month of Jul}^, 1895, in collecting specimens, and he has the 

 intention of making a further study of them. 



The cave of Mitchelstown, even in the parts that are shown 

 to the public, is not at all easy to go through ; the Chimney 

 and all the parts round about it (O'Leary's Cave) are nearly 

 impracticable to ladies. 



^ See G. H. Carpenter 1 Animals found in Mitchelstown Cave, Irish 

 Naturalist^ February, 1895, Dublin ; and BtdUtitt dc la Socicte de Spdeologie^ 

 No. I, 1895, p. 44, 



