36 ON RAINS CAVE, LONGCLIFFE, DERBYSHIRE. 



cave-earths, and guard them against the intrusions of burrowing ani- 

 mals. Hence, and especially where seams of stalagmite are present, 

 the order of the deposits represents their sequence in time, the lower 

 being the older. But the thickness of stalagmite must be most cau- 

 tiously accepted as a measure of time, for tlie rates of its growth 

 vary very much. In Kent's Cavern, Torquay, it has taken 250 years 

 to form 2^0 inch of stalagmite ; while in a cave at Castleton the 

 writer has proved that its growth there exceeded i inch per century. 

 So far, the accumulation which forms the floor of the Great Cave has no 

 signs of stalagmite ; it is a chaotic mass of stone and red earth. But, 

 of course, it is impossible to say what lies lower down. The floor of 

 the Little Cave remains practically untouched. The young Messrs. 

 Rains have merely turned over tlie surface earth between the large 

 blocks of stone of the former, and considering the large quantity of 

 bones they have found there can be little doubt that there is still a 

 large " find " to be found. 



It is now time to describe the " finds." Professor Boyd Dawkins, 

 during the limited time at his disposal, picked from the bone heap in 

 Mr. Rains' barn, with astonishing rapidity, bones belonging to man, 

 the urus, Keltic short-horned ox (which still survives in some of the 

 Welsh and Scotch breeds), sheep, goat, horse, red deer, roe deer, 

 dog, badger, wild cat, and rabbit. Since then the writer has detected 

 the fox and hedgehog in addition to the above. This assemblage of 

 animals is characteristic of the Recent period of geology. Many of 

 the leg bones have been split to extract the marrow, and occasionally 

 have jags and cuts as from a knife ; some few bones are charred. 

 Clearly these are the relics of human food. 



The writer subsequently took in hand the fragments of human 

 skulls, but owing to the numerous missing pieces, they still remain, 

 with one exception (Skull c), little more than heaps of broken bone. 

 Hence, cranial measurements and indices are, at present, out of the 

 question. Yet, despite their condition, some ideas can be formed of 

 their original owners. Of Skull a there are the frontal, and much of 

 the side and rear parts, besides a fragment of the lower jaw. All 

 these are thick, heavy, and pot-like — due, perhaps, to the action of 

 the limy drip, for upon the frontal was a film of stalagmite. The 



