26 REPORT — 1867. 



tion unless accompanied by one of the Superintendents, The other branches, 

 and these only, are shown to visitors by the guide appointed by the proprie- 

 tor, Sir L. Palk, Bart., M.P. Such visits, however, can be made only when 

 the Committee's workmen are present, by whom, and not by the guide, the 

 keys are kept. In short, every care is taken to find aU the objects reallj^ 

 belonging to the Cavern ; and every precaution to prevent anything being 

 maliciously or mischievously placed in the dej)osits for the workmen to find. 



Amongst the visitors during the present year, the Superintendents had 

 the pleasure of receiving Captain Galton, Mr. Godwin-Austen, Mr. Gwyn 

 Jeffreys, and Mr. Prestwich — all members of the British Association. They 

 were conducted over the Cavern by the Superintendents, the mode of opera- 

 tion was fully explained to them, and they inspected a large and character- 

 istic series of the fossils, as well as of the flint implements and other relics of 

 human industrial art, which the Cavern has yielded. 



Hitherto the labours of the Committee have been confined to the eastern 

 series of galleries and chambers. Of these, the Great Chamber, the Gallery, 

 the Passage of Urns, the Vestibule, and the North-east GaUery have been 

 completely explored to the depth of 4 feet below the base of the Stalag- 

 mitic floor ; to which, from the beginning, and as a first exploration, the 

 excavation has been restricted. In the Lecture Hall, in which the workmen 

 are at jn-esent engaged, considerable progress has been made. On its com- 

 pletion, it is intended to proceed to the gaUery leading out of it southwards, 

 and then to the SaUy Ports. 



Mr. M'Enery and the other early explorers carried on some part of their 

 researches in a small portion of the Vestibule, and in the Lecture Hall. In 

 the latter their works were probably on a somewhat larger scale. Unfor- 

 tunately, instead of taking out of the Cavern that portion of the deposits 

 which they had examined, they simply threw it on one side. The Commit- 

 tee have found it necessary to remove this disturbed material, and, in 

 doing this, they have examined it -snth a care almost equal to that they 

 bestow on the virgin ground. The result has been the discovery of a large 

 number of fine specimens of teeth and other relics of the ordinary Cave 

 mammalia, which were either unnoticed or neglected by the early explorers. 

 Indeed, the largest Mammoth molar whicli the Committee have found 

 occurred in these old workings. In order to the thorough investigation of 

 cavern deposits, they must be removed without the cavern — partly to secure 

 their complete examination by daylight, and also to prevent the commingling 

 of disturbed and undistm-bed soil. Great as may be the pala3ontological 

 value of the specimens thus recovered, they can be of no service as evidence 

 on questions of chronology or contemporaneity, as they are confusedly mixed 

 up with objects belonging to many and widely-separated eras. Hence the 

 Committee have carefully kept them apart from the specimens yielded by 

 the ground which was unquestionably intact. 



Except in one limited locality, to be noticed hereafter, the succession of 

 deposits in the Cavern has been uniformly the same as that described in the 

 two previous Eeports, viz. : 



First, or uppermost : Huge angular blocks of limestone. 



Second : Black Mould, from 3 inches to upwards of a foot in depth. 



Third : Stalagmitic Tloor, varying in thickness from 3 inches to as many 

 feet, but usually ranging from about 12 to 18 inches. 



Fourth, or lowest yet found: Eed " Cave -earth," with angular pieces 

 of limestone, and occasionally rounded stones of kinds not derivable from the 

 Cavern hill. 



