JET. 46.] BBIXHAM CAVE. 113 



of his health, but the explorations were continued with 

 unflagging energy and enthusiasm by Mr Pengelly. 1 



Prestwich heartily co-operated with Falconer, and 

 approved of all the steps taken. Several years later, 

 owing to the death of Hugh Falconer, at the request of 

 the General Committee he drew up the final report on 

 Brixham Cave. The excavations in it yielded rude 

 flint implements of human workmanship, associated 

 with the fossil bones of Pleistocene mammalia, thus 

 indicating the presence of early man. 



It may not be out of place here to transcribe the 

 following letter, which was published in the first 

 volume of the ' Geologist ' (p. 252). It shows the 

 interest with which the discoveries in Brixham Cave 

 were welcomed, and its date almost coincides with that 

 of Dr Falconer's letter to the Geological Society : 



To the Editor of the ' Geologist.' [10] KENT TERRACE, llth May 1858. 



SIR, Amongst the many interesting problems we have to in- 

 vestigate, and that are, now in particular, attracting the attention 

 of geologists, is that which relates to the character of the fauna 

 inhabiting this land during some of the later geological periods. 

 Those only who have worked at this subject can form any idea 

 of the vast number of elephants, rhinoceroses, oxen, deer, &c., 

 which must, at more than one period, have flourished in this 

 country on surfaces now buried beneath drift and gravel. Occa- 

 sionally their bones are met with in very large quantities, but 

 their distribution is very irregular and uncertain. The fact of 

 their occurrence, however, frequently remains unknown beyond 

 the place where the discovery is made, and the knowledge of 

 such facts is too often lost or forgotten for want of a convenient 

 and ready record. 2 Your pages could afford, sir, exactly the 



1 Palaeontological Memoirs : Hugh Falconer, vol. ii. p. 486. 



2 "There is a case in point in another communication I have sent you. 

 In that instance I happened to visit a gravel-pit, opened only temporarily, 

 and find remains of elephants, of which no record would have been pre- 

 served but for my chance visit. See ' Geologist,' vol. i. p. 252." 



H 



