CHAP. VI. EXPLORATIONS OF THE BRIXHAM CAVE. 99 



valley Avere visible before tbe breccia and earthy matter 

 wliich blocked them up were removed during the late ex- 

 ploration. According to a ground-plan drawn uj) by Pro- 

 fessor 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 appear- 

 ance 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 '^ reindeer gallery," because a 

 perfect antler of that animal was found sticking in the sta- 

 lagmitic floor, is ninety-five feet above the level of the sea, 

 being also about sixty altove the bottom of the adjoining- 

 valley. The united length of the five galleries which were 

 cleared out amounted to sevei'al 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 thickness 

 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. 



2dly. Next below, loam or bone-eai'th, of an ochi-eous red 

 color, from one foot to fifteen feet in thickness. 



3dly. 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 



