THE OSSIFEROUS CAVERNS OF DEVONSHIRE. 367 
small virgin cavern on Windmill Hill, at Brixham, led to a sudden 
and complete revolution; for it was seen that whatever were the 
facts elsewhere, there had undoubtedly been found at Brixham 
flint implements commingled with remains of the Mammoth and 
his companions, and in such a way as to render it impossible to 
doubt that man occupied Devonshire before the extinction of the 
cave mammals. Under the feeling that the statements made by 
MacEnery and his followers respecting Kent’s Hole were perhaps, 
after all, to be accepted as verities, the British Association, in 1864, 
appointed a committee to make a complete, systematic and accurate 
exploration of the cavern, in which it was known that very extensive 
portions remained entirely intact. This committee commenced its 
labours on March 28, 1865; it has been reappointed, year after 
year, with sufficient grants of money, up to the present ime; the 
work has gone on continuously throughout the entire thirteen years ; 
and the result has been, not only a complete confirmation of 
Mr. MacEnery’s statements, but the discovery of far older deposits 
than he suspected—deposits implying great changes of, at least, 
local geographical conditions ; changes in the fauna of the district ; 
and yielding evidence of men more ancient and far ruder than even 
those who made the oldest flint tools found in Kent’s Hole prior to 
the appointment of the committee. The cavern consists of a series 
of chambers and passages, which resolve themselves into two main 
divisions, extending from nearly north to south in parallel lines, 
but passing into each other near their extremities, and throwing 
off branches, occasionally of considerable size. The successive 
deposits, in descending order were— 
Ist, or uppermost. Fragments of block and limestone from an 
ounce to upwards of 100 tons weight each, which had fallen from 
the roof from time to time, and were, in some instances, cemented 
with carbonate of lime. 
2nd. Beneath and between these blocks lay a dark-coloured mud 
or mould, consisting largely of decayed leaves and other vegetable 
matter. It was from 3 to 12 inches thick, and known as the black 
mould. This occupied the entire eastern division, with the excep- 
tion of a small chamber in its south-western end only, but was not 
found in the other, the remoter, parts of the cavern. 
8rd. Under this was a stalagmitic floor, commonly of granular 
texture, and frequently laminated, from less than an inch to fully 
five feet in thickness, and termed the granular stalagmite. 
