CHAP. vi. EXPLORATIONS OF THE BRIXHAM CAYE. 99 



valley were visible before the breccia and earthy matter 

 which blocked them up were removed during the late 

 exploration. According to a ground-plan drawn up by 

 Professor Kamsay, it appears that some of the passages 

 which run nearly north and south are fissures connected 

 with the vertical dislocation of the rocks, while another set, 

 running nearly east and west, are tunnels, which have the 

 appearance of having been to a great extent hollowed out by 

 the action of running water. The central or main entrance, 

 leading to what is called the f reindeer gallery,' because a 

 perfect antler of that animal was found sticking in the 

 stalagmitic floor, is ninety-five feet above the level of the 

 sea, being also about sixty above the bottom of the adjoining 

 valley. The united length of the five galleries which were 

 cleared out amounted to several hundred feet. Their width 

 never exceeded eight feet. They were sometimes filled up 

 to the roof with gravel, bones, and mud, but occasionally 

 there was a considerable space between the roof and floor. 

 The latter, in the case of the fissure-caves, was covered with 

 stalagmite, but in the tunnels it was usually free from any 

 such incrustation. The following was the general succession 

 of the deposits forming the contents of the underground 

 passages and channels : 



1st. At the top, a layer of stalagmite varying in thick 

 ness from one to fifteen inches, which sometimes contained 

 bones, such as the reindeer's horn, already mentioned, and 

 an entire humerus of the cave-bear. 



2ndly. Next below, loam or bone-earth, of an ochreous red 

 colour, from one foot to fifteen feet in thickness. 



Srdly. At the bottom of all, gravel with many rounded 

 pebbles in it, probed in some places to the depth of twenty 

 feet without its being pierced through, and as it was barren 

 of fossils, left for the most part unremoved. 



The mammalia obtained from the bone-earth consisted of 



