DEVONSHIRE. 23 



always adjacent to the walls of the cavern. Nothing of the kind was found 

 again, except at about 30 feet beyond the point just specified, where a small 

 one, about 2 feet long, was laid open. In this branch of the cavern the 

 tunnels had the aspect of water-coui'ses rather than of burrows. Occasionally 

 bones and pieces of limestone projected from their sides ; and it was observed 

 that the exposed portions of the latter had always the blanched appearance 

 of such stones when found in shallow soil on limestone and beneath a thin 

 covering of turf, whilst their remaining portions were of the same colour as 

 the deposit in which they were lodged. No modern bones or other objects 

 were found in the tunnels. 



The upper surface of the cave-earth at the internal mouth of the North 

 Sally-port was 5'5 feet below that at the Arched Entrance of the cavern ; 

 thence to the external entrance, by the most direct route, it formed three 

 inclined planes, — of which the first fell 16 feet, towards the exterior of the hiU 

 (i. e. eastward), in a length of 67 feet — the fall, however, being by no means 

 uniform in amount. In the second plane the dip was reversed, and the 

 workmen in their excavations ascended 8-5 feet in a length of about 45 feet; 

 after which the dip towards the exterior was resumed, and continued to the 

 new mouth, giving a fall of 5 feet on reaching it. Hence the surface of the 

 deposit at the external entrance was 12-5 feet lower than at the internal, 

 and 18 feet lower than at the Arched Entrance of the cavern. 



The branch of the cavern now under notice contained very large quantities 

 of bones and other remains of animals. 



So long as it presented itself, the overlying black mould yielded potsherds, 

 marine shells (including CarcUum, Pecten, and the internal shell of Cuttle- 

 fish), and bones (chiefly modern, but a few of extinct animals — the astragalus 

 of Rhinoceros being the most important of the latter). 



In one instance only, about 26 feet before reaching the external entrance, 

 did any bones occur in the stalagmitic floor ; and these were few and, in 

 themselves, unimportant. 



The distribution of the fossils in the cave-earth was very irregular. The 

 first four " foot-paraUels " contained no specimens of any kind. Nothing was 

 found in the second foot-level until reaching 7 feet from the entrance, and 

 nothing in the first until the excavation had reached 1 1 feet ; after which 

 fossils were met with in tolerable abundance in every parallel, and almost in 

 every level, as far as 33 feet, even where local peculiarities made it necessary 

 to excavate to the depth of 6 feet. 



Perhaps their irregular distribution was nowhere more strongly marked than 

 in the various passages connected with the " islands," commencing at the 

 point just specified — 33 feet from the entrance. Along the entire north- 

 western passage fossils were very abundant, culminating probably on January 

 19th, 1870, when two " yards " of cave-earth lying one on another (in other 

 words, a paraUelopiped of the deposit measuring 3 feet long, 2 feet deep, and 

 1 broad, and therefore containing 6 cubic feet of matter) yielded 51 teeth of 

 Hyfena, 45 of Horse, 27 of Rhinoceros, 8 of Deer, 3 of Elephant, and 1 of 

 Wolf, 4 astragali of Rhinoceros, 3 portions of antlers, and a huge assemblage 

 of bones and fragments of bones. Along the northern and north-eastern 

 sides of the " islands " they became less numerous, especially in the third 

 foot-level. On the east there were none in the lowest two foot-levels. On 

 the south 320 cubic feet of deposit was found to contain no more than four 

 specimens. The low passage terminating at the south-west angle of the 

 " islands," and in which the deposits very nearly reached the roof, opened 

 into one of much greater height, in which the cave-earth was covered with 



