96 



bone bed in which the oldest remains were found, and which 

 he therefore infers to be of preglacial age. 



There is a slight but important diiference between Mr. 

 Tiddeman's statement as herein set forth, and that of 

 Mr. Dawkins to this Society to which I took exception on 

 the 18th of February. Mr. Dawkins gave the Society to 

 understand that the most ancient remains, lately found, 

 occurred outside the cave, in the talus, in which I think he 

 was quite mistaken, and Mr. Tiddeman does not so place 

 them. My remarks, as published in the Proceedings of that 

 Meeting, had special reference to this very point, and as Mr. 

 Dawkins varied his description in the published summary, 

 they do not appear to be a reply to the context. 



However, Mr. Dawkins and Mr. Tiddeman are both in 

 accord in considering that the lower cave earth in which 

 the oldest remains are found is immediately covered by a 

 clay of glacial origin ; and that in this case the Victoria Cave 

 is the only one in Great Britain which has offered clear 

 proof that the group of animals whose bones have been there 

 found was living in the country before the glacial age. 



The conclusion above stated is so important as to demand 

 the clearest proof, and therefore the subject is one worthy of 

 the most careful consideration, and full discussion ; and as I 

 hold the conclusion to be altogether wrong, I will proceed 

 firstly^to describe the deposits from my own point of view, 

 and then will try to shew where I think the above gentle- 

 men are in error. 



(1) The Victoria Cave occurs in the face of a limestone 

 crag, which appears to be much fissured, as the openings of 

 four other caverns occur in it within a quarter of a mile, 

 two of which are believed to be in connection with the 

 Victoria Cave. The cliff rises from 200 to 300 feet above 

 the cave, and beyond it is a high tract of pasture land, with 

 numerous hollows on the surface ; into which the rain sinks 

 and finds its way through the fissures in the limestone. So 



