unquestionably to be followed up, and promised to visit the cave 

 and give his opinion on the bones. It was August before 

 Professor Boyd Dawkins was able to fulfil his promise, but he 

 then paid a visit to Brassington in company with Dr. Cox, Mr. 

 Hartshorne, and your Hon. Sec. The result of this visit was the 

 identification of the bones or sculls of man, horse, bos longifrons, 

 larger ox, red deer, roe deer, horned sheep, Hebridean sheep, 

 goat, hog, hare, rabbit, dog, badger, wild cat, and birds of sorts 

 The Professor pronounced the bones to belong to the neolithic 

 and bronze ages, and very probably also to include the Roman 

 habitation of Britain. It was his opinion that the cave ought to 

 be systematically examined and opened to a much lower depth. 



In accordance with the suggestion of Professor Boyd Dawkins, 

 your Council made an application to the British Association, 

 asking whether any grant towards expenses would be made by 

 the Association, in the event of this Society undertaking the 

 exploration of the cave. This application has for the present 

 been set aside, but we are not without hopes that some grant 

 may eventually be made. In the meantime a Committee has 

 been appointed to watch the matter and report to your Council. 

 Full particulars concerning the human skulls discovered in 

 the cave, and further notice of the pottery and other objects will 

 be found in the excellent paper by Mr. John Ward which 

 appears in this volume. 



The most hearty thanks of our Society are due to Lord 

 Scarsdale for his kindly consideration of our claims, and for 

 his prompt action in this matter ; our thanks are also most 

 specially due to Mr. Rains (Lord Scarsdale's tenant) and to his 

 sons for their careful custody of the "finds" and the keen interest 

 they have displayed throughout, with very practical help whenever 

 it has been needed. A more general readiness to take up a 

 matter of this sort in time, and a wider spread of intelligent 

 interest would go a long way towards arresting vandalism, and 

 bringing important questions at once under the notice of those 

 qualified to deal with them. 



Your Council received, in August last, a communication from 



