336 Geological Society. 



with sharp fractures. The contents had clearly been introduced 

 into the cave by water, flowing under geographical conditions 

 which no longer exist. 



The mammalian remains belong to the following species : — 



Machairodus crenatidens, Fabr. Wiinoceros etmscus, Falc. 



HycBna sp. Equus stenonis, Nesli. 



Mastodon arverncnsis, Croiz. & Job. Cerviis etueriarum, Croiz. & Job. 

 Elephas inendionalis, Nesli. 



All these species are found in the Upper Pliocene deposits of 

 France and Italy, and undoubtedly belong to that age. The 

 Mastodon, elephant, rhinoceros, and horse occur also in Britain in 

 the Upper Pliocene deposits of the Crag. 



Some of the bones present the characteristic teeth-marks of the 

 hyaenas ; and the preponderance of the remains of the young over 

 the adult mastodons points to the selection by the hyaenas, who 

 could easily master the calves, while they did not as a rule attack 

 the large and formidable adults. The Author has observed a similar 

 selection in the case of mammoths in hya>na-dens, into which the 

 remains had been brought by those cave-haunting animals. He 

 therefore concludes that the animal-remains have been washed out 

 of a hya}ua-den, which then existed at a higher level, and carried 

 down deep into the rock, into the cave in which they were found, 

 along with the clay and pebbles brought down in flood-time from 

 the Yoredale and Millstone-Grit hills. 



The area of the Victory Quarry must then have been at the 

 bottom of a valley, instead of in its present position on the divide. 

 The denudation of the limestone which has taken place since that 

 time is estimated at not less than 330 feet — an amount sufficient to 

 destroy the ravine formed by the stream above the bone-cave, and 

 all the caves and rock-shelters in the district, which were accessible 

 to the Upper Pliocene mammalia. 



The Author appends a map illustrating the physical geography 

 of the British Isles in Upper Pliocene time. In it the British area 

 is represented as joined to the Continent by a barrier of land, 

 extending from the Straits of Dover, westward, as far as the 100- 

 fathom line in the Atlantic, which sweeps southward from Scandi- 

 navia, ofi" the West of Ireland, into the Bay of Biscay. There were 

 then no physical barriers to forbid the migration of Maclmirodus, 

 Mastodon, Eleplms meridionalis, and the rest, from Central and 

 Southern France into Britain. They could find their way freely 

 from the valleys of the Loire and the Garonne, across the valley 

 now occupied by the English Channel, into England and, it may be 

 added, Ireland. Over this area the animals migrated in the Upper 

 Pliocene age. The discovery of a few of them in Derbyshire is to 

 be looked upon as a monument of their former existence over the 

 whole of this region. It is also a striking example of the great 

 destruction of the surface which has taken place since that time, 

 and of the imperfection of the geological record. It is the only 

 cave in Europe that has yielded remains of the remote Pliocene 

 Epoch. 



