1822.] Bones discovered in a Cave at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire. 193 
found the remains of many human bodies. A description of it 
may be seen in the Archeologia for 1820. 
2. Mr. Dillwyn has observed two analogous cases in the 
mountain limestone of South Wales; one of these was disco- 
vered in 1805 near Swansea, in a quarry of limestone at the 
Mumbles, where the workmen cut across a wedge-shaped 
fissure, diminishing downwards, and filled with loose rubbish, 
composed of fragments of the adjacent limestone, mixed with 
mould. In this loose breccia lay confusedly a large number of 
human bones that appear to be the remains of bodies thrown in 
after a battle, with no indications of regular burial; they were 
about 30 feet below the present upper surface of the limestone 
rock, 
3. The other case occurred, in 1810, at Llandebie, in Caer- 
marthenshire, where a square cave was suddenly broken into, in 
working a quarry of solid mountain limestone on the north bor- 
der of the great coal basin. In this cave lay about a dozen 
human skeletons in two rows at right angles to each other. ‘The 
passage leading to this cave had been entirely closed up with 
stones for the purpose of concealment, and its mouth was com- 
pletely grown over with grass. 
It is obvious, that in neither of these cases are the bones 
referable to so high an era as those of the wild beasts that occur 
in the caves at Kirkdale, and elsewhere. 
P.S. As this paper was going to the press, [ have been grati- 
fied to hear that my conjecture, as to the abundance of such 
caverns as that at Kirkdale, has been verified by the discovery 
of another cave (containing chambers lined with stalactite, and 
having on its bottom mud, and bones imbedded in the mud), in 
a quarry close to the town of Kirby Moorside, on the property of 
C. Duncombe, Esq. who has judiciously taken every precaution 
to secure it from injury, till some qualified person shall be present 
to observe, and record the undisturbed appearance presented by 
its interior. Should it be in my power, as I hope it may, to 
assist at its further opening, I shall communicate the result to 
the Royal Society. 
It is recollected also, that about 20 years ago, another cavity 
containing bones was discovered on the north of Kirby Moor- 
side, but none of them have been preserved. 
Though it is probable, as I have stated, that such caverns are 
not uncommon, we shal! cease to wonder that they are so rarely 
brought to light, when we consider the number of accidental 
circumstances that must concur to lead to such an event. 
1. The existence of caverns is an accidental circumstance in 
the interior of the rock, of which the external surface affords no 
indication, when the mouth is filled with rubbish and overgrown 
with grass. 2. The presence of bones is another accidental 
circumstance, though probably not an uncommon one in the case 
of those caves, the mouths of which were accessible to the wild 
beasts that inhabited this country in the period immediately pre- 
New Series, vou, 1v. o 
