BRITISH ISLES. 29 



Describes the general characters of the Brora Coalfield, giving analyses 

 of the coal and accompanying ironstone. H. A. N. 



Pengelly, W. Ninth Report of the Committee for Exploring Kent's 

 Cavern, Devonshire. Rep. Brit. Assoc, for 1873, pp. 198-209. 



This report refers chiefly to work done in the " Long Arcade," or 

 " Corridor." Earlier explorers having disturbed some parts of this 

 gallery, an account of its original condition is compiled from Mr. 

 MacEnery's description. It was formerly thought that the circular 

 hollows which had been observed in the stalagmitic floor of the arcade 

 were the beds of bears, or had been made (perhaps for hearths or ovens) 

 by the early inhabitants of the cave. In the Eighth Report certain 

 natural basins, resembling these hoUows, were described ; and during 

 the past year a larger hollow was discovered which, without any doubt, 

 was natural. An inscription, dated 1604, has been discovered in the 

 stalagmite ; this is the earliest yet noticed. 



The stalagmitic floor is of two kinds, granular and crystalline ; the 

 latter is by far the older, and, in the Long Arcade, is only found in 

 patches adhering to the north wall, at a higher level than the newer 

 granular floor. The oldest deposit yet known in the cave is the hreccicij 

 which has yielded remains of the bear and flint implements of a rude 

 type. Above this the crystalline stalagmite accumulated. At a subse- 

 quent period these deposits were partially dislodged ; the cave-earth was 

 introduced, and above that the granular stalagmite was formed. The 

 conditions under which the breccia and the cave-earth respectively 

 were formed must have been widely different ; and the time which must 

 have elapsed between the periods is believed to have been considerable. 

 The breccia contains materials which could not have been derived from 

 the Cavern-hill ; and it is suggested that it was introduced into the 

 cavern from some opening yet undiscovered. " The fact that though 

 he [the Hyaena] was not a member of the British fauna during the 

 era of the Breccia, he had become very prevalent during that of the 

 Cave-earth, may probably be taken as indicating that after, but not 

 during, the period of the Breccia, Britain was a part of Continental 

 Europe, and thus rendered his arrival possible. If this be admitted, it 

 follows that the early men of Devonshire saw this country pass from 

 an insular to a continental state, and again become an island." Details 

 of implements, bones, &c. found during the year are given. W. T. 



. Notes on Recent Notices of the Geology and Palaeontology 



of Devonshire. Part 1. Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. vi. part 2, 

 pp. 046-085. 

 Several errors having been observed by Mr. Pengelly in various 

 recent works relating to Devonshire, he has brought together, with a 

 view to their correction, a series of notes on the following subjects : — 



1. The observations of the Rev. W. S. Symonds in his * Records of the 

 Rocks,' on the Devonian rocks of Mudstono and Slapton, South Devon. 



2. References made in papers by Messrs. Etheridge, Jukes, and HoU, 

 on fossil fish in Devonian rocks. 



