192 REPORT— 1869. 



Besides the foregoing, there was found during the preparatory examination, 

 /^/iJ7t^ in the box numbered 2067j.a canine of a Badger, the fang of wbich had been 

 cut or otherwise reduced to a -wedge-hke form, and perforated obHquely as if 

 for the purpose of being strung. It was exhumed on February 4th, 1867, in 

 the '* Vestibule " in the second foot-level of Cave-earth, which is beUeved to 

 have been intact ; but as the overlying Stalagmite had been broken up and 

 removed by the earher explorers, the Supeiiutendents do not feel perfect 

 confidence in the trustworthiness of its position. 



The foregoing are the only objects of peculiar interest which have been re- 

 cently detected among the specimens collected by the Committee, prior to the 

 last Meeting of the Association, from the deposits beneath the Stalagmitic 

 Floor. 



There have been found, however, two noteworthy objects, among those which 

 had been met with in the Black Mould overljing the Stalagmite, and which, 

 therefore, can have no pretensions to great antiquity. The first is a bone 

 needle, by no means so elegantly designed or so highly finished as that just 

 described. Its proportions also are such as to secure for it great strength, and 

 to enable it to carry a thi'ead or cord of considerable size. 



The second object is a ring, apparently of Kimmeridge Coal, or some kin- 

 dred substance. The diameter of the greater circle is upwards of an inch, 

 and of the inner one about half an inch. The annulus is about -2 inch thick 

 at its inner edge, and both surfaces are uuifonnly bevelled to a line at the 

 outer edge. Its breadth is not uniform, as the circles are not concentric. 



Researches during the year 1868-69. — During the year which has elapsed 

 since the Meeting at Norwich in 1868, the Committee have, with very slight 

 modifications to be noticed hereafter, conducted the excavation on the method 

 desci'ibed in detail in their First lleport (Birmingham, 1865) ; the Superin- 

 tendents have continued their daily visits to the Cavern ; the Secretary has 

 recorded in his daily joiirnal such facts as have presented themselves ; monthly 

 Reports have been regularly forwarded to the Chairman of the Committee ; the 

 workmen have continued to be interested in their work, which they have per- 

 formed with great zeal and integrity ; the interest felt by the general public in 

 the progress of the investigation has suffered no diminution ; and the arrange- 

 ments for the admission of visitors, which in previous j'ears worked so satis- 

 factorily for all parties, have in all cases been carried out. 



Since the last lleport was sent in, the Superintendents have had the plea- 

 sure of showing the Cavern and explaining the operations to the Queen of the 

 Netherlands and her suite, the Right Honourable Sir George Grey, the Pdght 

 Honourable John Bright, and several Members of the British Association, 

 including Sir W. Tite, Mr. G. Griffith (Assistant General Secretary), Pro- 

 fessor TyndaU, Mr. W. A. Sanford, Mr. W. Fronde, Mr. J. E. Lee, Mr. S. R. 

 Pattison, and others. 



Mr. Everett, who is about to proceed to Borneo to explore some of the 

 caverns in that island under the auspices of the Raja of Sarawak, recently 

 spent two days (July 31st and August 2nd) in Kent's Hole, accompanied by 

 one of the Superintendents, for the purpose of studpng the operations in de- 

 tail. It may be hoped that the British Association has in this way been able 

 to render valuable aid to the Committee who have undertaken the important 

 work of cavern exploration in the far east. 



The South-west Chamher. — In the Fourth Report (1 868) the Committee stated 

 that they were occupied in excavating that j^ortion of the Cavern termed the 

 " South-west Chamber," which, so far as was then known, was the last or 

 most south-westerly branch of the Eastern Series of Chambers and Galleries. 



