Saturday, May 10, 1884. 



MR.' EDWARD CRANE, F.G.S., ON SOME 

 RECENT OSTEOLOGICAL ADDITIONS 

 TO THE BRIGHTON MUSEUM FROM 

 KENT'S CAVERN AND ELSEWHERE. 



An interesting paper upon some fossil remains from 

 the famous Kent's Cavern at Torquay, recently added to 

 the Brighton Museum, was read on Thursday evening be- 

 fore the members of the Brighton and Sussex Natural 

 History Sociery, by Mr E. Crane, who exhibited the 

 specimens, as well as a diagram showing the different 

 deposits in the Cavern. Mr Crane said : — 



On completing the arrangement of the Geological 

 room of our Museum in the spring of 1883, I asked 

 my friend Mr Thomas Davidson, L.L.D., F.K.S., to 

 solicit Mr William Pengelly, F.R.S., for a donation of 

 duplicate fossils from Kent's Cavern, Torquay. To Mr 

 Davidson's appeal, Mr Pengelly replied as follows :— 

 "I have much pleasure in sending you a chest contain- 

 ing 58 complete finds from Kent's Cavern, Torquay, as 

 a present to the Free Museum, Church-street, Brighton, 

 from the late Lord Halden (proprietor of the Cavern) 

 and the British Association, which it may be agreeable 

 to the Directors to accept. Of the finds sent, 54 were 

 met with in the cave-earth, namely, Hyaenine deposit, 

 and the remaining four in the Breccia, namely, Ursine 

 deposit, the oldest deposit found in the cavern." 



Kent's Cavern is situated in a small wooded lime- 

 stone hill of Devonian age, about a mile due east from 

 Torquay harbour. There are two entrances remaining, 

 6 feet high and 50 feet apart in the same natural cliff, 

 nearly 190 feet above the level of mean tide. The 

 Cavern has been known for a long period ; but tradition 

 does not reveal the date of its discovery. Amongst its 

 earliest explorers were Messrs. Northmore and 

 Trevelyan, in 1824, followed in 1825 by the Bev. 

 Mr Mac Enery. In 1846 the Torquay Natural History 

 Society made an exploration of a small portion of the 

 Cavern to obtain specimens for the Society's Museum. 

 In 1858 a Committee was appointed by the British 

 Association, for the purpose of systematic exploration, 

 under the careful superintendence of Mr Pengelly, who 

 published the results of the investigation in the Reports 

 of the British Association for the years 1865, 1869, 

 1879, and 1880, and also in theTransactions of the Devon- 

 shire Association for 1873-74 and 1880-81. To these 

 volumes, not having personally inspected the Cave, I am 

 indebted for the following details of physical structure : 

 The first deposit in descending order consists of huge 

 blocks of lime-stone which have fallen from the roof. 

 I Beneath these are layers of mould of an almost black 

 colour, from a few inches to over a foot in depth, con- 

 taining stones, human industrial remains, charred 

 wood, bones of various animals back to the age of 

 bronze, pottery of Roman date, and flint flakes, prob 

 ably representing from fifteen hundred to two thousand 

 years. Underneath the black mould is a crust ot 

 stalagmitic breccia, firmly cemented. Underlying this 

 comes the Bed cave-earth, excavated to a depth of 

 four feet, containing relics of several species of extinct 

 animals, one incisor tooth of Mackcerodus latidens 

 (Owen), molar teeth and tusks of young mammoths, 

 jaws, teeth, and bones of hycena, bear, rhinoceros, and 

 other animals. Flint implements occur everywhere, and 

 are the only indication of man's existence. Beneath the 



