TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 53 



interior of the eartli, seeing that the products of the decomposition of gi-anite are 

 found to possess a lower specific gravity, and therefore occupy more space, than 

 the original materials of the rock. Such a change would, doubtless, occur in gra- 

 nite and trap, if acted upon by carbonic acid at temperatures below 212° ; but above 

 that point the A'ery opposite would be observed, inasmuch as the silicic woidd then 

 take the place of the carbonic acid, and consequently, if brought into contact with 

 earthy or alkaline carbonates in the interior of the earth, would produce silicates 

 and expel carbonic acid, as, indeed, was long ago pointed out bj^ the author of this 

 paper in his work on Volcanos, and is insisted upon by Prof BischofF himself in 

 other parts of his volume. It seems difficult, therefore, to attach much importance 

 to the cause assigned by Prof Bischoff for the elevation of strata, especially con- 

 sidering that the loss of substance incurred by the rock, through the removal of its 

 alkali by the agency of carbonic acid, would go far towards counterbalancing any 

 expansion due to the lower specific gravity' of the kaolin resulting, and moreover 

 recollecting that no theory which professes to account for the elevation of certain 

 portions of the earth's sm-fece ought to be accepted if it does not embrace likewise 

 the coiTesponding phenomenon oi the sinking or depression of others. 



On the Newer Pliocene Fauna of the Caverns and Biver-Deposits of Somerset- 

 shire. By W. Boyd Dawkins, B.A., F.G.S. 

 The author described the remains of the following newer Pliocene Mammalia, 

 from the caverns of Ban well, Bleadon, Uphill, Sandford Hill, Hutton, Wookey 

 Hole, Dudham Down, and Burrington ; and from the river-deposits of the Tone, 

 the Parrett, and the Avon. 



Felis spelfea. . Spermophilus. 



antiqua. Bos primigenius. 



catus. Bison priscus. 



Hyfena speleea. minor. 



Var. a. H. intermedia (IM. de Megaceros hibemicus. 



Serres). Cervus elaphus. 



Var. /3. H. Perrieri (Croizet and tarandus. 



Jobert). Var. a. C. Guettardi. 



Mustela martes. Var. /3. C. Bucklandi. 



Ursus spelfeus. . capreolus. 



arctos. Ovibos nioschatus. 



Meles taxus. Ehinoceros tichorhinus. 



Canis lupus. . hemitsechus. 



vulpes. Equus. 



Arvicola amphibia. Elephas antiquus. 



pratensis. primigenius. 



agrestis. Hippopotamus major. 



Lepus timidus. Sus scrofa. 

 cuniculus. 



On Fossil and Human Remains of the Gibraltar Cave. By Dr. Falconee. 



On the Lower Silurian Eocl-s of the South-East of Cumberland and the North- 

 East of Westmoreland. By Professor Haekness, F.B.S., F.G.S. 



The district to which this commimication has reference is an area in Cumber- 

 land and Westmoreland, about 15 miles in a N.N.W. and S.S.E. direction, along 

 the western margin of the Pennine escai-pmeut. Its breadth does not exceed 1^ 

 mile, and in one locality it becomes a very narrow band. Its eastern boundary 

 consists of the upper Old Red Sandstone and the succeeding carboniferous rocks — 

 rocks of the same age also, in part, form its western border ; but the south-west 

 portion of the district has, as a margin, the upper Permian sandstones, from which 

 the Lower Silurian rocks are separated by the gTeat Pennine Fault. 



The contour of the Lower Silm-ian rocks of the S.E. of Cumberland and the N.E. 

 of "Westmoreland is widely different from that of the strata which border them. 



