67 



surface of the rock, and four feet above high-water mark ; and al- 

 though considerable pains were taken to discover its outlet, no com- 

 munication of the kind was found. 



Mr. Whitby mentions that caverns have been frequently dis- 

 covered in this limestone, the walls of which have been encrusted 

 with stalactitic concretions ; but in the present case no such appear- 

 ance was observed in any part of the cavity, a proof, says the 

 author, that no opening in the rock from above had ever been closed 

 up by the process of infiltration. In further confirmation of this 

 circumstance, Mr. Whitby has stated that in the contract for quar- 

 rying there are two prices; one for rock, and another for clay, earth, 

 and rubbish ; and that two officers constantly attend, one for the 

 Crown and the other on the part of the contractors, who measure the 

 contents of all caverns containing clay or other soft materials ; and 

 that these officers distinctly state that the rock surrounding the 

 cavern was equally hard with the other parts. 



All the bones discovered in this place belong to the rhinoceros, 

 and are evidently parts of the skeletons of three different animals. 

 They are in a most perfect state of preservation, and every part of 

 the surface entire, to a degree very seldom observed in fossil bones ; 

 and as the teeth of the rhinoceros differ both in form and structure 

 from those of every other known animal, there was no kind of diffi- 

 culty in recognising them. Every portion of the bones also possessed 

 some characteristic feature proving it to have belonged to the same 

 animal. The animals to which these bones belonged seem to have 

 been nearly of the same size, and very large, for on comparing the 

 fossil metacarpal bone, with that of the largest rhinoceros ever seen 

 in this country, the skeleton of which is in Mr. Brookes's collection, 

 that of the former was 85 inches long and 2^ inches broad, while in 

 the latter the length was only 7| inches and the breadth 2|- inches. 

 This skeleton stands 5 feet 8 inches high. It deserves remark 

 that all the bones found in this cavern belong to the same species 

 of animal ; for although great pains were taken to ascertain 

 whether there were any others than those sent to London, none 

 were discovered. 



Some comparative chemical analyses of different fossil bones are 

 annexed to this paper, from which it appears that those above de- 

 scribed are remarkably free from extraneous earthy substances, and 

 consist almost entirely of phosphate and carbonate of lime, with only 

 slight traces of animal matter : whereas most of the fossil bones dis- 

 covered in the blue clay at Brentford, and in the argillaceous lime- 

 stone at Lyme in Dorsetshire, yielded considerable portions of alu- 

 minous and siliceous earth. 



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