167 



hope to find undisturbed evidence of the events occurring in the im- 

 mediately antecedent period ; and such seem to be the bones and 

 stalagmite formed before the introduction of the diluvian mud in the 

 Kirkdale cave. 



The author then proceeds to take a general view of the operations 

 successively going on in this cave, founded upon his previous minute 

 descriptions of its contents; of its earliest period when it was an un- 

 occupied aperture ; of its second period, when tenanted by hyaenas, 

 during which, as well as the former, stalagmite and stalactite were 

 forming, though necessarily interrupted by the ingress and egress of 

 its lodgers ; of the third period, when the animals were extirpated 

 and the mud introduced, and which appears therefore to have been 

 that of the deluge ; and of the fourth and last period, during which 

 the superficial stalagmite incrusting the mud was formed, and in 

 which no creature appears to have entered the cave till it was opened 

 last summer, and no other process to have been going on than the 

 uninterrupted formation of stalactite. 



The strata of diluvial sediment seem to mark the point of time at 

 which the latter state of things began, and the former ceased ; apd 

 the limited quantity of postdiluvian stalactite, no less than the un- 

 decayed condition of the bones, tends to show that the time elapsed 

 since the introduction of the mud has not been of excessive length. 



Professor Buckland concludes this paper with an application of the 

 arguments arising out of the detail of facts which it contains, to the 

 illustration of other similar phenomena, where the evidence of their 

 origin is less complete ; of these, five are in our own country, and 

 the author avails himself of their history, together with that of the 

 Kirkdale cave, to elucidate the account of analogous caverns, which 

 have been more or less perfectly examined in various parts of the 

 Continent of Europe. 



Communication of a curious Appearance lately observed upon the 

 Moon. By the Rev. Fearon Fallows. In a Letter addressed to 

 John Barrow, Esq. F.R.S. Read February 28, 1822. [Phil. 

 Trans. 1822, p. 237.] 



On the evening of the preceding 2Sth November, Mr. Fallows ob- 

 served a luminous spot on the dark part of the moon's limb, which, 

 by aid of a four-feet achromatic telescope, of a power of 100, seemed 

 like a star of the sixth magnitude ; three others much smaller were 

 also remarked, but want of proper instruments prevented Mr. Fallows 

 from ascertaining their situation. On the 29th, the large spot was 

 as brilliant as on the preceding evening, the other two nearly invisi- 

 ble, and the third and most brilliant of the small spots had disap- 

 peared. On the 30th, the weather prevented further observations. 



