THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 53 



NOTES ON A RECENT VISIT TO SOME BASALT 



CAVES NEAR SKIPTON. 



By Richard J. Fletcher. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists'' Club of Victoria, 10th June, 1895.) 



On the side of Mount Widderin, and in that vicinity, are many 

 funnel-shaped depressions, and at the bottom of one of these is 

 the entrance to some locally well-known caves. After crawling 

 for about 15 feet, the visitor enters the main cave, the roof of 

 which rapidly rises to a height of 70 feet. The walls and roof 

 are of rough basaltic rock, generally free from incrustations, no 

 stalactites being observable, except a few diminutive specimens, 

 an inch or so in length. 



The main chamber is roughly circular, with a length of 48 

 yards and extreme breadth of 40. At its widest part is the 

 entrance to a second cave, as long as the former, but with a 

 maximum widih of only 25 yards, nor is the roof quite as lofty ; 

 fibrous roots have penetrated the ceiling and hang down in 

 switches a few feet long. 



The main cave narrows off mto a corridor, which leads into a 

 small oval cave, 27 yards in the longest diameter, the floor being 

 much more elevated than that of the main cave. A still narrower 

 passage than that by which it is approached leads to a hole down 

 which you can drop, though generally at the risk of tearing one's 

 clothing on the rocks in transit. Here the visitor is confronted 

 by a cool, clear pool of water, which bars further progress. 



The floors of all the caves are covered with a deposit varying 

 from a few inches to 15 feet in thickness, and which I classify as 

 "organic" and "non-organic," and may be said to be guanos. 



In many parts of Australia caves have been found containing 

 guano, but as far as I am aware, in none but this is it of any 

 commercial importance. The organic deposit in the main cave 

 contains abundance of nitrogen as ammonia, nitrates, and what 

 is termed by agricultural chemists organic nitrogen, together with 

 phosphates of lime and magnesia, which indicate its value as a 

 plant food. 



Bats are credited with being the producers of this deposit, 

 with what truth I cannot say, as " the oldest inhabitant" has 

 never seen a bat in the caves. A few of these animals are to be 

 found, however, in the hollow trees about Skipton. 



Signs of an opossum were observed, and near the entrance a 

 small brown owl conscientiously kept guard; he was in his sentry- 

 box every day of the week we spent at Mount Widderin. The 

 only insect life noticed during our visit was a few mosquitos. 



A mould (or fungus) was observed presenting distinctly the 

 cabalistic characters which spell " Jennie." We could not under- 

 stand this at first, but subsequently noticed that it occurred only 



