1869.] MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, 305 



notes on the Mammalian remains, and described the locality and 

 the position of the different portions or apartments of the cavern. 

 In that part of the cavern known as the vestibule is a layer of 

 black soil from two to six inches thick, known as the Black Band. 

 In that Black Band were found 326 flint implements, chips, bone 

 tools, &c., and bones of extinct animals, some of which were 

 partially charred. The theory was that this formed a portion of 

 the residence of an ancient British family. To test the disputed 

 question whether it could be used as a cooking place without 

 suffocating the animals, half-a-dozen fagots were lighted, and five 

 persons who acted as the judges decided that the objection on 

 that score was not tenable. All the bones which had been 

 collected had been separately packed and labelled, showing their 

 original position. Over 50,000 bones were collected, and all 

 separately marked. When they came to be examined there was 

 found among them a bone needle with an eye capable of receiving 

 small twine. It was broken, but was supposed to have been 

 originally two-and-a-half inches in length. It had been exhumed 

 on the 4th December, 1866, and belonged to the Black Band 

 beneath the stalagmitic floor. A bone harpoon, or fish-spear, was 

 also found beneath the Black Band. The report next gave an 

 account of the researches made during the present year. Mr. 

 Pengelly mentioned that there was a perennial spring which a 

 mercantile company had proposed to utilize for the purposes of a 

 brewery, using the cavern as their store for " the beverage " 

 which they brewed. He described the narrow passage leading 

 from certain portions of the cave to other portions. These were, 

 in some cases, so small as to require explorers to progress in a 

 recumbent .position and by a vermicular motion. In the cavern 

 were found initials of individuals, and names and dates. One 

 remarkable one was " Bobert Hedges, of Ireland, February 20, 

 ' 1688," and it was believed that the dale was genuine. It was 

 inscribed on the stalagmite, and proved that the drip of two-and-a- 

 half centuries had not been enough to obliterate the inscription. 

 Mr. Pengelly caused some amusement by exhibiting a collection 

 of modern articles found in the lake, which had been emptied, 

 consisting of such things as a ginger beer bottle, a mutton bone, 

 an oyster shell, a hammer, a chain, candle, and candle sconce. 

 An elephant's tooth was also found. They had also, this year, made 

 a most important advance in their researches by the discovery of 

 evidence of the existence of man at a point in the remote portion 



