120 REPORT — 1856, 



existing races of animals — most of those in this cavern being of extinct species, — and 

 prepared the earth for man and his contemporaries. 



The original formation of the cavern was attributed principally to the action of 

 trap and the volcanic action which had disturbed the strata in many parts of this 

 district, causing deep fissures, as at Daddy's Hole and Ansty's Cove. 



The sources from which the statements in the paper were obtained were princi- 

 pally the original manuscript memoir of the late Rev. J. MacEnery, F.G.S., which 

 is deplored by Professor Owen, in his Fossil Mammalia, and by other writers, as lost 

 to science, but which had been recovered by Mr. Vivian and was produced before 

 the Section ; also the report of the sub-committee of the Torquay Natural History 

 Society, and his own researches. Photographic representations were exhibited of 

 the fossils, showing the connexion between the teeth of elephants, horns of deer, &c., 

 found in the cavern, and in the submerged forest in Torbay. 



The following was read amongst other extracts from Mr. MacEnery's manu- 

 script : — 



"The floor we found at our first visit covered, through its whole extent, with a 

 darkish mould, varying in depth from a few inches to a foot. It only dates since 

 the cavern became a popular place of resort, and the further progress of the stalag- 

 mite in open situations was interrupted by the trampling of visitors. In the vesti- 

 bule were found, deep imbedded in it, those curiously shaped pieces of oak to which 

 the appellation of Druids-sandal was given, as has been remarked, — together with a 

 quantity of decomposed animal and vegetable matter, the remains of fires and feasts, 

 mingled with rabbit bones. 



" In the crevices of the rock, and in the cavities occasioned bytheoverlappingof fallen 

 masses, were concealed the skeletons of such animals as strayed or retired hither to 

 die, such as dog, hare, rabbit, sheep ; and the remains of the bat, with its delicate 

 framework spread out on the black mould, were particularly noticed. 



" But, for greater precision and perspicuity, I shall take the chambers in the order 

 they are visited in. To commence with the common entrance. — Here, once for all, I 

 must solicit indulgence for entering into details apparently unimportant. In this 

 cavern are found grouped together, phsenomena which have only been observed 

 separately in others, dispersed over divers countries. By closely examining the dis- 

 closures of this, a clue may be obtained to all. At the hazard of unnecessarily charging 

 the thread of my n arrative with seemingly frivolous particulars, I proceed to note down 

 the characters presented by its general aspect, no less than its contents, before it was 

 altered by those operations which have since left no part of it in its original state. 

 It is only on a just appreciation of all their circumstances that a true estimate can 

 be founded of those facts which should serve as the basis of all reasoning on its 

 nature and history. 



"The floor of the entrance, except that it had the appearance of being broken up, 

 offered nothing remarkable to detain us ; — we shall have occasion to return to it 

 presently. Not so the lateral branch by which it communicates with the body of 

 the cavern on the left ; at this point so great was the obstruction, from the accumu- 

 lation of mould and a fallen ledge of rock lying across the way, that those who then 

 visited it will not have forgotten their accomplishing the passage on all fours. These 

 impediments have been partly removed. Under a similar ledge on the left, still 

 standing, was found the usual sprinkling of modern bones ; and, in the mould 

 beneath, which had acquired the consistence of hard claj^ were found fragments of 

 pottery, calcined bones, charcoal, and ashes, — in the midst of all were dispersed 

 arrow-heads of flint and schist ; the ashes furnished a large proportion of the mould. 

 In the same heap were discovered round slabs of roofing-slate of a plate-like form, 

 some crushed, others entire. The pottery is of the rudest description, made of 

 coarse gritty eartb, not turned on a lathe, and sun-baked ; on its external margin it 

 bears zigzag indentations, not unlike those represented on the urns found by Sir 

 Richard lioare in the barrows of Wiltshire. These fragments, there seems no 

 reason for doubting, are the remains of cinerary urns which once contained the 

 substances scattered around, and to which the slates served as covers. At a short 

 distance nearer the entrance were found, in a continuation of the same mould, articles 

 of bone, of three sorts, — some of an inch long and pointed at one end, or arrow- 

 heads, — others about three inches long, rounded, slender, and likewise pointed. 



