34 PAPERS, ETC 



affirms that he has observed them in all : so that there 

 were ample means of ingress and egress to these caves. 



Having thus noted the origln of the caverns, and the 

 indlcatlons afForded of their being so situated as to become 

 fitting haunts to such wild bcasts as might be living in the 

 district, we have, to some extent, a clue to the circum- 

 stances under which the bones came there. I admit that 

 there are difficulties to be encountered ; some which 1 do 

 not profess to be able to solve ; others which are accounted 

 for by the lapse of time during which the samc cavern at 

 long intervals may successively have been occupied by 

 various species of beasts of prey. In this way the occur- 

 rcnce in the same cavern, as at Bleadon, of the bones of 

 the tiger, the bear and the wolf ; and at Sandford Hill, of 

 the tiger, hyama and wolf, which are not usually associ- 

 ated together, may be accounted for. In some of the 

 caverns, as at Banwcll and Uphill, 110 remains of the tiger 

 wcrc found, but only those of the wolf and bear in one, 

 and of the hyama in the other, with the bones of deer, ox, 

 and horse in such quantitics as clearly to prove that they 

 are the accumulations of long agcs. Then, as to the 

 elcphants, it is clear from the characteristic features of 

 the teeth, that the remains of two distinct species, at least, 

 are found in these caverns ; the one closely allicd to the 

 recent Asiatic Elephant, and the other to the African 

 species. Whcther these were coeval or not, does not ap- 

 pear; but, judging from analogy, we should be led to 

 refer them to different periods.* The collection in our 



* The author has been gratified to find bis conclusions in Uns particular 

 confirmed by Dr. Falconer, a disünguished member of the Geological So- 

 ciety, who has made the Classification of fossil elcphants his special study. 

 According to Dr. Falconer, the two species are Elephas primigenius, and 

 Elephas antiquus. Ue further expresses his belief that they belong to two 

 distinct epochs, but the caves having been open during both periods, bones 

 of all the species have been promiscuously mingled in the cave collections. 



