TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 79 



the Rev. J. MacEnery's original memoir, which gives a most graphic account of the 

 first discovery of fossil remains in the cavern, and which is thus referred to by 

 Professor Owen in his ' Fossil Mammalia:' — Perhaps the richest depository of 

 bears hitherto found in England is that called Kent's Hole near Torquay. It is to 

 the assiduous researches of the Rev. Mr. MacEnery, that the discovery of the 

 various and interesting fossils of this cave are principally due, and some of the rarest 

 and most valuable of this gentleman's collection have been recently acquired by the 

 British Museum. M. de Blainville frequently cites 'A description of the cavern of 

 Kent's Hole, Devonshire,' which he supposes to have been pubhshed by Mr. Mac- 

 Enery, but whichhe regrets that he had not been able to procure. I have been assured 

 by Dr. Buckland that Mr. MacEnery never published such a work, and it is most 

 probable that the drawing or lithographic impressions, shown by Mr. MacEnery 

 to Professor Blainville, were those designed to illustrate the forthcoming second 

 volume of the ' Reliquiae Diluvianse.' " Mr. Vivian had recovered the original rough 

 notes of this memoir, which had been disposed of at the sale of Mr. MacEnery's 

 collection, and proposes shortly to edit it with annotations in a connected form. 

 The following extract is a specimen of the geological portion of the work: — 

 The Bear's Den. — " A curtain of stalactite, with depending clusters of spar at 

 certain intervals, and corresponding eminences on the floor, was the picture this 

 chamber presented when we first saw it. It was floored through its entire extent 

 with a continuous sheet of stalagmite, siliceo-calcareous and crystalline, so diflScult 

 to penetrate, that after repeated attempts we abandoned it in despair ; at length, 

 availing ourselves of cracks that traversed it, like the divisions in a pavement, we 

 succeeded in ripping it up. All we had hitherto observed vanished in interest before 

 this disclosure. The first flag that was turned over, exhibited in relief groups of 

 skulls and bones adhering to the stalagmite. Each successive flag repeated the same 

 spectacle. It is to be regretted that their size prevented us from transferring them 

 at once, as they were found, to our museums ; for while they lay in the chamber 

 awaiting their removal, some persons, who had heard of the discovery, broke into the 

 cavern, and either tore away or disfigured the masses. SuflScient, however, have 

 been preserved to give an idea of the accumulation and character of the remains in 

 this quarter. 



" The remains of Bear prevail here to the exclusion of all others, of all ages, and of 

 all periods down to their encasement in the mud ; some of the teeth have the 

 most dazzling enamel, and the bones retain their natural freshness, as if derived from 

 animals in high health destroyed for the sake of their skeletons ; others, on the con- 

 trary, are of a darkish brown, with the texture of the bone decayed from long expo- 

 sure, and only kept together by the calcareous and ferruginous matter with which 

 they are saturated ; even the enamel is of a greenish tinge. Owing to the induration 

 of their earthy enclosure or their encrustation by stalagmite, few were extracted 

 entire. Two skulls were buried in the stalagmite as in a mould, and were brought 

 away in that state. The spar has formed into a variety of specular crystals in their 

 chambers. The skulls were severed in two ; the front separated from the occiput 

 and found apart, the other parts of the skeletons lay about in all directions without 

 any order ; generally we were able to trace the natural relation of the parts 

 in some instances; but. in no case were they or the skulls broken or gnawed like 

 those in other parts. The long bones were found generally entire, and when found 

 broken, it was only mechanically, from pressure. In no instance have they exhibited 

 indications of being broken or gnawed by the jaws of carnivorous animals for the 

 sake of their flesh or marrow. In fine, they were precisely in the state of bones that 

 belonged to animals that died by a natural death on the spot during a succession of 

 ages, whose remains had long laid about on the surface, subject to be trampled upon 

 by the feet of their own species that made this branch their haunt. In this respect 

 this section of the cavern resembles the caves of Germany, in the predominance of 

 the Bear, in the identity of the species, and in the unbroken condition of the remains. 

 It is worthy of remark, that the remains of the Ursus cultridens do not appear here 

 any more than among the Bears in the German caves, though they do, as we shall 

 see, in the other chambers with bones of Elephants. To enhance the wonder of 

 this anomalous scene, there appeared, and there still exist attached to the under sur- 

 face of one of the pyramidal mounds in this chamber, lumps of Album Gracum ; 



