186 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. vn. 



The results of the exploration of these caves, so far 

 as they bear on the history of man, may be summed 

 up as follows. In the two lower stages, b and c, the 

 hunters are identical with those of the river-drift, while 

 the more highly-finished articles, which imply a higher, 

 and probably a different, social condition, appear in the 

 upper series, and are therefore later in time. 



The oldest Fauna in the Cresswell Caves. 



The association of species in the strata of these 

 caverns does not present any decided points of contrast, 

 although it must be noted that in the Eobin Hood cave, 

 the leopard, and the sabre-toothed lion (Machairodus 



FIG. 58. Upper Canine of Machairodus, Robin Hood Cave, \. 



latidens) (Fig. 58), were found in the upper cave-earth, 

 but along with the more common animals. The explora- 

 tion, however, of a fourth cave, termed Mother Grundy's 

 Parlour, by the Rev. J. M. Mello and myself in Novem- 

 ber 1878, has revealed an earlier chapter in the history of 

 the caves of Cresswell Crags. Underneath the lower red 

 sand, c, the lowest ossiferous layer in the other caverns, 

 was a layer of red clay, varying in thickness from six 

 inches to three feet, and resting on a ferruginous yellow 

 sand a foot thick. In both these the remains of hysenas 

 were very abundant, bisons were present, and the molar 

 teeth, tusks, and other remains, proved that at least 



