101 



Mr. Tiddeman describes the " talus" as having fallen from 

 the cliff above, and that it continued upwards, so as formerly 

 to close 'the entrance of the cave, which is so far quite cor- 

 rect. He afterwards describes the most recent discovery as 

 being brought to light below all the "talus" at the mouth 

 of the cave, viz. a bed of tenacious clay with scratched Silu- 

 rian and other boulders, resting on the edges of the beds 

 containing the remains of the older mammals, and dipping 

 outwards at an angle of 40°. Professor Hughes had sug- 

 gested to him the possibility of this boulder clay not being 

 in its original position, but that it might have fallen from 

 the cliff; but Mr. Tiddeman thinks this impossible. He 

 " considers that it seems likely that it is the remnant of the 

 moraine (lateral or profonde) which dammed up the mouth 

 of the cave, and prevented anything but fine sediment from 

 entering it during the glacial period" (as before cited), and 

 it is ujDon this supposition that the more important one is 

 based, viz.; that the remains found recently are of pre- 

 glacial age. 



I am sorry again to have to differ from Mr. Tiddeman, 

 but I am perfectly convinced he is in error, and that 

 there is a.t present nothing at all resembling the boulder 

 drift clay to be seen at the entrance of Victoria Cave. 

 I examined the whole section very carefully, and had 

 some of the boulders, which are very few, got out, and 

 I believe they are fully to be accounted for ^vithout any 

 need to assume glacial action. They are of black limestone, 

 Silurian flags, whinstone, and millstone grit, such as occur 

 plentifully on the surface of the scar, and where they 

 were probably deposited as drift. At the point where the 

 animal remains so plentifully occurred is probably an old 

 entrance of the cavern, on a much lower level than the 

 original entrance when the cave was first discovered. Just 

 within this, in a water-worn hollow, the remains occurred 



