112 BRIXHAM CAVE. [l858. 



a wider opening, and in the spring of 1858 the work- 

 men were no longer in doubt but that they had come 

 upon the entrance of a cave with branches. Dr Falconer 

 urged that, as the fossil contents of several important 

 English caves had been extracted without care or atten- 

 tion, and had been scattered piecemeal, the Council 

 should take immediate steps to prevent this being 

 repeated in the case of the Brixham cave, and should 

 arrange for systematic investigation. 



The consequence of this letter was, that a recom- 

 mendatory resolution was passed by the Council of the 

 Geological Society, with the result that " the Royal 

 Society, on May 13th, gave a grant of 100 towards 

 the exploration of the cave in the manner suggested 

 by Dr Falconer. Miss Burdett - Coutts contributed 

 50 towards the same object. At Dr Falconer's sug- 

 gestion, a committee was appointed to carry the design 

 into effect. The committee consisted of Professor 

 Ramsay, Mr Prestwich, Sir Charles Lyell, Professor 

 Owen, Mr Beckles, the Rev. R. Everest, and Mr 

 Godwin - Austen. Dr Falconer was entrusted with 

 laying down the plan and giving the instructions upon 

 which the exploration was to be conducted, and the 

 works were carried on under the immediate superin- 

 tendence of Mr Pengelly. The fossil remains were 

 identified by Dr Falconer. On the 9th September 

 1858 a report on the progress of the operations, drawn 

 up by Professor Ramsay, Mr Pengelly, and Dr Falconer, 

 was submitted to the General Committee, and by them 

 was forwarded to the Royal Society, which, from the 

 importance of the results already elicited, voted an 

 additional sum of 100 to prosecute the inquiry." 

 Almost immediately afterwards Dr Falconer was com- 

 pelled to proceed to the south of Europe on account 



