232 ON RAINS CAVE, LONGCLIFFE, DERBYSHIRE. 



latter. The large piece of rock, H, Plan, and I, Section, for 

 instance, extended into no less than thirteen of these parallelo- 

 pipeds of cave-earth. Then, at a later stage, when the bedding 

 was distinct, it was deemed preferable to " peel off" the beds 

 singly, in breadths of one foot as before, but in depth deter- 

 mined by the thickness of the bed — this, in order to keep the 

 objects of the different beds separate. Not only were all the 

 objects likely to be of use placed in bags, as above explained, but 

 notes were taken on the spot of the positions and other circum- 

 stances of the more important of them, as well as of the character 

 of the soil. 



The superficial portion of the cave floor consisted, as already 

 stated, very largely of loose stones, small and great. These 

 removed, stones still preponderated as a rule, but were everywhere 

 mixed up with a variable loam, which sometimes simply filled 

 their interstices, and at other times formed patches almost devoid 

 of them. We shall have occasion to revert more particularly to 

 this cave loam. 



Up to March 13th, very much digging was done, but with poor 

 results. As soon as the left region was reduced to a convenient 

 slope for ingress and egress, we turned our full attention to the 

 right. The soil at and near the surface, particularly in the left 

 region, contained diffused particles of charcoal, and was patchy 

 from the presence of vegetable mould. From its kneaded appear- 

 ance, and being in the track of animals and men passing to the 

 rear of the cave, we concluded that the mould was to a large extent 

 trampled in, and that the charcoal was in a similar way trans- 

 ported from the rear, where we afterwards found several patches 

 of it. Autumnal leaves blown in, doubtless, also did their 

 share in the production of the mould. No definite bedding 

 was discovered up to the above date, except a seam of crystalline 

 stalagmite at the extreme front of the right region (E, Section.) It 

 varied from i to 2 inches in thickness, and was sometimes lami- 

 nated : after trailing down the rock, it dipped towards the middle 

 of the cave, becoming much broken and soon lost. Subsequently, 

 we found many loose pieces of stalagmite in the vicinity, which 



