ON Kent's cavern, Devonshire. 29 



system -nhicli the Cavern has yet yielded — were found on the 3rd of Januarv 

 1867. 



The Black Band below the Stalagmitic Floor was extremely rich in objects, 

 many of which are of great interest. They include bones and teeth of various 

 animals, and traces of the presence of man. The list of animals represented 

 in this Band includes the ox, deer (more than one species), horse, badger, 

 bear, fox, Uhinoceros tichorlihms and Hycena spelcea. 



The indications of human existence are chips, flakes, cores, and imjilements 

 of flint ; bone tools ; and bones partially burnt. The flint specimens form a 

 total of 366 in number, or about ten on the average in every cubic foot of the 

 material composing the Black Baud. Tliough many of them are mere chips, 

 and the majority are flakes, no inconsiderable number are more or less per- 

 fect lanceolate implements. By far the greater number are white, and have 

 an almost chalky aspect and textm-e. Some of them are so extremely fragile 

 as to break on the least pressure. It appears utterly impossible to suppose 

 that they were introduced into the Cavern by other than human agency, or 

 that they had ever been moved from the spot where they were primarily 

 lodged. The bone tools are two, perhaps three, in number. One of them is 

 an awl about 3| inches long, and cut at one end to a sharp point. It was 

 found on the 27th of November 1866, beneath a floor of Stalagmite 16 inches 

 thick, and perfectly intact and continuous in aU directions, at a spot aboiit 

 40 feet from the northern entrance of the Cavern. The second tool is a por- 

 tion of a so-caUed harpoon, barbed on one side only, and about 3| inches long. 

 It was found on the 17th of January, 1867. The third is of a nondescript 

 and doubtful character. 



With the exception of the Black Band — found only in one branch of the 

 Cavern, and occupying a veiy hmited space — the deposit below the Stalag- 

 mitic Floor is everywhere tolerably uniform in character — Bed Cave-earth 

 with angular fragments of limestone. The latter vary from mere splinters to 

 blocks weighing many tons. Typically, this Cave-earth may be said to be 

 composed of about equal parts of loam and stones; but in some places the 

 latter greatly preponderate, whilst in others the former is most prevalent. 

 EoUed stones, not derivable from the Cavern hill, occur here and there in 

 every part which has been explored ; but in those branches with which the 

 Committee have been occupied during the last twelve months, they have not 

 been so numerous as they were in the Gallery described in the Second Report. 

 Blocks of stalagmite, the broken remnants of an old floor, continue to be 

 abundant. They occur at aU levels, both in the Cave-earth, and in the 

 Stalagmitic Floor which the Committee found intact, and occasionally they 

 project obliquely through the latter to the height of a foot or more. Many of 

 them are of considerable size, measuring upwards of a cubic yard. Indeed 

 one block, in the Lecture Hall, measui-ed fully three cubic yards. So far as 

 at present appears, no part of the Cavern is exempt from them, with the ex- 

 ception of that part of the Great Chamber extending from the soutliern en- 

 trance to 40 feet within it. From their first appearance, it was obvious 

 that they were either of stalagmitic or of stalactitic origin. Their structure 

 was strongly in favour of the former view, and this has been recently con- 

 firmed by the discovery of stones and bones incorporated within several of the 

 blocks found in the Lecture Hall. It was stated in the First Report that matter 

 of probably faecal origin was frequently met with in the Cave-earth in tlie 

 Great Chamber. A large quantity of this material, frequently forming consider- 

 able heaps, was found in the southern portion of this Chamber, which has 

 been recently explored. With the exception of a few small pieces in the 



