206 REPORT — 1869. 



of Cave-earth which, without being observed, had slipped off the face of the 

 section ; hence its exact position is uncertain. 



Charcoal has heen found somewhat plentifully on the surface, where a few 

 burnt bones occurred with it. It has also been met with at all depths in the 

 deposit, though in no great (Quantity. 



A few marine shells of common species Avere met with on the surface. 



The fragments of pottery differ in colour and in finish, and probably belong 

 to more than one period. Two or three of them are rather longer than those 

 commonly fouiid in the Cavern. 



During the last twelve months Mr. Boyd Dawkins, assisted by Mr. Ayshford 

 Sanford, has made considerable progress in identifying and naming the fos- 

 sils. He has prepared and sent in a Catalogue of a large number of speci- 

 mens, accompanied by the following Eeport. 



In the determination of the following animals from Kent's Hole Cavern I 

 have been aided l)y my friend Mr. Ayshford Sanford. By far the greater 

 portion of the labour has been undergone by him. We have examined up- 

 Avards of four thousand specimens, or rather less than one-tenth of the whole 

 accumulation of the remains in the hands of the Committee. No bones of 

 birds or fish have been catalogued ; the latter Dr. Giinther has kindly under- 

 taken to name before our Eeport is concluded. The results of our work are 

 contained in the following catalogue. 



Homo. — We have met with no bones or teeth from the Cave-earth that can 

 be ascribed undoubtedly to man. One or two much-worn or mutilated inci- 

 sors, however, may be human, but they may also belong to several other ani- 

 mals. The human remains from the prehistoi-ic deposit of Black Mould are 

 exceedingly abundant, and many of them, in Mr. Sanford's opinion, bear 

 evidence of the former existence of caunibals in the Cave. Some of them 

 have been cut and scraped by sharp instruments, the marrow-bones are 

 broken, and are mixed indiscriminately with the broken bones of Sheep or 

 Goat, Red Deer, Bos hngifrons, and other animals. In one box there are the 

 remains of at least three individuals — a large man, a nearly full-grown woman 

 or lad, and a child about half-groAvn. 



Man has also left his handiwork on some very remarkable fragments of 

 canines of Bear from the Cave-earth, which, in common with many other 

 splinters of bone, are in a totally different mineral condition to that presented 

 by the ordinary Cave-remains. They are much more crystalline, much 

 heavier, and of a darker colour than the ordinaiy teeth and bones, and have 

 been so mineralized that they present a fracture almost conchoidal, and 

 strongly resembling that of a Greensand chert. One of these had been 

 fashioned into a flake, and one of its surfaces presented the usual traces of 

 use. It had manifestly been formed after it had lost its normal dentinal 

 texture. It is clear, therefore, that they had become fossilized before the in- 

 troduction of the present Cave-earth. Viewed in connexion with the evi- 

 dence of the existence of an ancient floor that is now represented by masses 

 of stalagmite, sometimes ossiferous, we cannot resist the idea that they arc 

 samples of the contents of the Cave which had in the main disappeared before 

 the introduction of the present Cave-earth. 



Fells spelaa. — The Cave-lion is tolerably abundant in the Cave-earth. 



Felis, sp. ? — A single canine from the Cave-earth indicates an animal of 

 the size of Lynx cervaria. 



