Nov. 4, 1875] 



NA TURE 



17 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey {Macac us crythrants) from 

 India, presented by Mr. R. Roberts ; a Macaque Monkey 

 (Macacus cynomolgus) from India, presented by Mrs. Gibbs ; two 

 Lesser White-throats (Sylvia syknelld), two Yellow Wagtails 

 (MoiacUla flava), European, presented by Mr. Augustus E. 

 Field ; two Central American Agoutis {Dasyproda punctata^ 

 from Central America, presented by Mr. W. G. Davis ; a Polar 

 Bear (Ursus mariiimus), Arctic Regions; a Smooth-beaded 

 Capuchin {Ccbus monachus) from S.E. Brazil ; a White-throated 

 Q.2.^yxc!C)xn (Cebus hypoUuats) from Central America; a Golden 

 Eagle {AqtiUa chrysaitus) from Hudson's Bay ; two Maxi- 

 milion's Aracaris (Pteroglossus iviedi) from Brazil, deposited ; 

 two Golden Agoutis {Dasyprocta aptti), bom in the Gardens. 



ELEVENTH REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 

 FOR EXPLORING KENTS CA VERN, DEVON- 

 SHIRE* 



'T'HE Committee have again the melancholy duty of reporting 

 that death has deprived them of one of their members. As 

 long ago as 1S59, as soon as he became aware of the importance 

 of Uie discoveries made in the Windmill Hill Cavern at Brbcham, 

 Sir Charles Lyell expressed a strong desire that Kent's Cavern 

 should also be systematically and thoroughly explored ; and it 

 was with his full concurrence that the proposal to do so was laid 

 before the Committee of the Geological Section of the British 

 Association at Bath in 1864, the day after he delivered his 

 Presidential Address, whilst his arcent advocacy, together with 

 that of the late Prof. Phillips, secured its ready acceptance by the 

 Committee of Recommendations and the General Committee. 

 At the first meeting of the Cavern Committee, appointed in the 

 year just mentioned, he was unanimously elected chairman, and 

 he continued to occupy that post until his lamented decease on 

 Feb. 27, 1875. Though the state of his health prevented him 

 from taking any active part in the exploration, his interest in 

 the work never abated ; he always carefully studied the Monthly 

 Reports of Progress sent^him by the superintendents, and he 

 made careful arrangements for their preservation. 



The Tenth Report, read to the Geological Section of the 

 Association at the Belfast meeting, and printed in the'aimual 

 volume for last year, brought up the work to the end of July 

 1874. The exploration has been carried on without interruption 

 from that datetothe present time ; the mode of excavation adopted 

 at the beginning has been uniformly followed ; the superinten- 

 dents have visited the cavern daily ; the progress of the work has 

 been carefully recorded in the cavern diary ; the workmen have, 

 as heretofore, given complete satisfaction ; and Monthly Reports 

 have been regularly sent to Sir Charles Lyell until his decease, 

 and subsequently to Mr. John Evans. 



The cavern continues to be much visited by persons desirous 

 of studying on the spot its characters and phenomena ; and 

 during the last twelve months the superintendents have had the 

 pleasure of taking a large number of visitors through those 

 branches which have been explored, and of explaining to them 

 the mode of operation. Probably a still larger number have 

 been conducted by the "guide," who, though vmder the control 

 of the committee, is not permitted to take parties to those 

 branches of the cavern in which the exploration is in progress, 

 or has not been begun. 



As in former years, rats have frequently been seen running 

 about in various parts of the cavern, including those in which 

 the men have been at woik, though hundreds of feet from any 

 glimmering of daylight ; and they have displayed their usual 

 boldness as well as their skill in carrying off candles. In other 

 branches, almost as far from the entrances, where all researches 

 have ceased for some years, their footprints are to be seen in 

 great numbers, especially on the silt left, here and there, where 

 the drip is copious in wet weather. 



On Jan. 29, 1875, a " buzzing fly " was seen andheard about 

 300 feet from daylight. 



Clinukk's Gallery .-—The Tenth Report (1874) stated that the 

 exploration of Cltnnick's Gallery was in progress, and had been 

 completed for about 34 feet ; that below the least ancient, or the 

 Granular, Stalagmitic Floor, for a distance of 18 feet from its 

 entrance, a smaJl quantity of " cave earth " uniformly presentej 

 * Abstract read at the Bristol meeting of the British Association. 



itself, beneath which lay the Breccia, occasionally separated from 

 it by remnants of the more ancient, or Crystalline, Stalagmitic 

 Floor in situ ; but that from the point just named, up to that 

 reached when the Tenth Report was drawn, there was no cave 

 earth, so that the two Stalagmites lay the one immediately on 

 the other, with the Breccia, that is, so far as is known, the 

 oldest of the cavern deposits, beneath the whole. 



At the commencement of the exploration of this gallery, the 

 deposits so very nearly reached the roof as to induce the belief 

 that a very few feet at most was all that the workmen had before 

 them. As the work advanced, however, the unoccupied inter- 

 space between the roof and floor became gradually larger, until 

 on Aug. 6, 1875, John Clinnick, one of the workmen, forced 

 himself through, and, after proceeding about 50 feet by estima- 

 tion, entered a large chamber, into which he was followed by 

 one of the superintendents. The chamber, probably one of the 

 lai^est in the cavern, is beautifully himg with Stalactites, and 

 has numerous Stalagmitic "paps," some of them fotir feet high, 

 and of almost cylindrical form, rising from a floor of the same 

 materiaL 



Clinnick's Gallery, on being excavated, was found to be a some- 

 what tortuous passage, varying from four to eight feet in width, 

 and from seven to ten feet in height. That it was once a water- 

 course there can be little doubt, as the roof bears the marks of 

 the long-continued action of a running stream. The walls vary 

 considerably, being in some places smooth, in others much 

 fretted or corroded, and in others more or less angular. 



The objects of interest found in this branch of the cavern 

 during the last twelve months have^been by no means nume- 

 rous ; nevertheless, they are not without considerable interest 



Attached to the upper surface of the Granular Stalagmitic Floor 

 portions of three land-shells were found, and about twenty bones 

 of mammals were met with lying together loose on the floor. 

 Their characters imply a recent introduction into the cavern.. 



Incorporated in the Granular Stalagmitic Floor itself were a 

 few bones, including a humerus, a tibia, and an ulna, each nearly 

 entire, and a portion" of a large humerus, all of which had been 

 gnawed. 



Though no cave 'earth was met with beyond the point already 

 specified, there seems no doubt that to the era of that deposit 

 may be referred a considerable portion of a radius and of an 

 ulna, both gnawed and foimd under loose pieces of stalagmite. 



The remains found in the Breccia were four teeth of bear, a 

 few bones and fragments of bone, and three teeth of lion in three 

 portions of, no doubt, one and the same lower jaw. The latter 

 " find" (No. 6,482) is of considerable interest, as being the first 

 known instance of remains of any animal besides bear met m ith 

 in the Breccia. Though the superintendents had no doubt of the 

 feline character of the teeth, they fonvarded one of them to Mr. 

 G. Busk, F.R.S., a member of the committee, remarking that 

 they beheved it to be the last lower left molar of fdis spelcea, 

 and requesting his opinion on it. In his reply, he remarks : 

 " There.is no doubt that the tooth is the left lower camassial of 

 Fclis leo, but it is of very unusual size, being, I should estimate, 

 one-twelfth bigger than the average dimensions of that tooth in 

 the lion. It is usually longer, but not so thick, in the tiger than 

 in the lion, but the thickness of the present one is proportionate 

 to its length. Another peculiarity, as it seems to me, is the 

 great wear that the tooth has undergone. I fancy existing 

 lions are not allowed to live long enough to wear their teeth 

 so much. At any rate the Kent's Hole tooth appears to be 

 more worn than any other I have as yet met with. Can it 

 belong to Machairodus? '' Having succeeded in removing some 

 part of the matrix encrusting the other portions of the jaw, they 

 were also forwarded to Mr. Busk, with the observation that the 

 superintendents had carefully considered the question before 

 submitting the first tooth, and bad ccme to the conclusion that 

 the jaw was not that of ^lachaircdus, for, waiving the fact tliat 

 none of the teeth were serrated, the fang of the canine still 

 remaining in the jaw was much too large for a lower canine of 

 any known species of Machairodus ; and it was suggested that it 

 might be worth considering whether the specimen belonged to 

 any of the species of Felis found in the forest-bed of Cromer. 

 To this Mr. Busk replied : " The jaw does not appear to present 

 anything unusual. It is, however, a good example to show that 

 the cave Hon lived to a good old age." 



The Breccia in Clinnick's Gallery also 5-ieIded seven speci- 

 mens of flint and chert, none of which need detailed description. 



The comparative paucity of specimens induced the superin- 

 tendents to suspend operations in that direction for at least a 

 time. The labour of seven months had been expended on it. 



