6 REPORT 1866. 



extiuct, must be abandoned ; for several teetb of Jlycena spelcua, Rhinoceros 

 tichorhinus, and a species of Bear, probably Ursiis spelceus, have occurred in 

 it within the last twelve months, and, with one exception, all of them in the 

 " floor " of the GaUery — a fact of considerable interest in connexion with the 

 hypothesis that this floor is more modern than that found in the greater part 

 of the Chamber. 



The ordinary red cave-earth, with a plentiful admixture of angular frag- 

 ments and blocks of limestone, has been met with everywhere beneath the 

 stalagmite. Nowhere has there been the least approach to stratification or 

 a symmetrical arrangement of materials. Nor has an instance occurred of 

 the black mould beneath the floor, or of its being commingled with the red 

 loam. In some localities the earth has been more, and in others less, abun- 

 dant than the stones. Indeed, in a very considerable portion of the Passage 

 of Urns the former was found very sparingly, the accumulation being almost 

 entirely small pieces and blocks of limestone lying loosely together. In such 

 cases the stalagmitic matter had occasionally infiltered between the stones to 

 a depth of from 1 to 2 feet, or even more, below its general level. Besides the 

 pieces of limestone, the red earth also contained fragments of rock neither 

 derivable from the cavern hiU nor, with the existing surface-configuration of 

 the district, capable of being carried into the cavern by natural agency. None 

 of them were angular, and most of them were weU rounded. A veiy large 

 proportion of them were pieces of diff"ercnt varieties of Devonian schistose 

 grit, prevalent in the district, and found in situ in Lincombe Hill, which, 

 immediately on the south-west, rises to the height of 372 feet above mean tide, 

 or upwards of 180 feet above the cavern entrances. Quartz -pebbles are also 

 more or less abundant, and, no doubt, were derived, commonly, from the vein- 

 stones which traverse the grits just mentioned. Amongst them, however, 

 there are one or two which, from the peculiarly vitreous aspect of the quartz, 

 Avere probablyderived from the ciystalline schists composing the southern angle 

 of Devonshire, and which, at their nearest approach, at the Start Point, are 

 upwards of fifteen miles from the cavern. Nor are these the only examples 

 of distantly derived materials, for weU-rolled flints are by no means rare, and 

 several examples of granitoid and other Dartmoor rocks have been met with. 

 Many of these fragments are too small to have served any useful purpose, so 

 that there is no probability of their having been selected by man. With the 

 exception of such as occur on the recent, as well as the raised, beaches on 

 the adjoining coasts, and occasionally in " pockets " and fissures in the lime- 

 stone hiUs, the nearest locality in which flints are found in situ is Milbern 

 Down, about five mUes distant, where, overlying beds of greensand, is a con- 

 siderable accumulation of supracretaceous gravel, mainly composed of flint and 

 Dartmoor detritus. There can be no doubt that the granitoid pebbles found 

 in the cavern were primarily derived from Dartmoor, which, where nearest, 

 is at a distance of not less than twelve miles. It is possible, however, that 

 these, and the rolled flint and fragments of vitreous quartz also, are relics of 

 gravel once widely spread over south-eastern Devonshire, and of which that 

 on Milbern Down, already mentioned, is the nearest existing remnant. 



The uniform depth of foiu- feet below the base of the stalagmite, to which 

 the excavation of the cave-earth has been carried, by no means extends 

 everj^where to one and the same level. The lowest level reached is in the 

 GaUery, where the deposit presents some peculiar features. Whilst the first 

 and second foot-levels consisted of the ordinary red earth with the usual ad- 

 mixture of angular fragments of limestone, the third and fourth feet, though 



