TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 761 



account of Bacon Hole, and Dr. Falconer has incidentally alluded to other caves 

 iu describing the animal remains. 



These three observers noted the fact that the cave fauna, which included 

 llyana, Ulephas antiquiis, and Rhinoceros hemiiccchua, was found in bone-beds in 

 the shore caverns and rested on or above a cemented shelly conglomerate, which 

 was evidently a raised beach, for it formed a floor across the cave at from 10 to 

 30 feet above the level of the present beach. This conglomerate was found to 

 contain shells which could not be distiaguished from those of the litoral zone on 

 the present beach. 



It was recognised that the beach must have been made when the sea was at 

 that higher level, and that the bones could not have been accumulated until the coast 

 had been raised above the old beach-level. But the further reasoning, which was 

 chiefly concerned with the age of the bones, was that, the beach being evidently 

 rather recent, the bones must be more recent. Falconer did not appear quite con- 

 tent with this, and called in Prestwich to assist in finding out what relation, if 

 any, the bone-deposits and raised beach bore to the Glacial deposits. 



Prestwich appears to have worked from the west along the coast to Bacon 

 Hole, but not to the east. He reported : ' With respect to the point I had particu- 

 larly in view, viz the relation of the Gower caves to the Boulder Clay, I am as yet 

 unable to form a decided opinion. I got the Boulder Clay within a mile of the raised 

 beach, but on opposite sides of the Point of E,hos-sili the subject requires further 

 and more lengthened inquiry.' On this Falconer summed up as follows : — 



1. That the Gower caves have probably been filled up with mammalian 

 remains since the deposition of the Boulder Clay. 



2. That there are no mammalian remains found elsewhere in the ossiferous 

 caves of Britain referable to a fauna of a more ancient geological date. 



It is very singular how near these two eminent men were to making a dis- 

 covery which they were even looking for. To the east of the rich colony of caves 

 between Minehin Hole and Bacon Hole, at which they were specially working, the 

 Drift-beds come on in force, and the succession which they were looking for might 

 have been very well seen. 



It is true that the proper succession was gradually hammered out by explora- 

 tions in other places by the Victoria Cave Exploration Committee, by the late 

 Dr. Hicks in the caves of North Wales, and at a later date by the Rev. C. H. 

 Pollen, but their researches and the facts evolved by them received a long and 

 well-sustained fire of hostile criticism which has not long come to an end. 



The survey of Gower has now established, I think I may say, incoutestably : — 



1. That the raised beach is Pre- or Interglacial. 



2. That the hone-beds which rest upon it in the caves are continuous with the 

 earlier ' head ' or debris which lies above it along the coast, and which consists of 

 limestone fragments. 



3. That Glacial Drift again lies over this. 



4. This in turn is often covered by a later deposit of ' head.' 



Frequently, immediately above the raised beach is a deposit of sand which is 

 probably blown sand. It contains in places land-snails which are abundant on the 

 blown sands of Glamorganshire. It is of a foxy-red colour, and its lower part is 

 often cemented together into calcareous concretions contaiuing little nodules of 

 manganese and iron. This sand is interesting in this way, that it is seen in many 

 places where sand could not blow now. The upheaval of the coast implied by the 

 raised beach would necessarily subject a wide fringe of foreshore to the action of 

 sun and wind, and the blown sand would result. It is just where we might reason- 

 ably expect it. 



The section is not always complete. Sometimes the Drift is absent, sometimes 

 it rests on rock, sometimes one member is absent, sometimes another, but this 

 represents the succession in which they always occur when present. It is astonish- 

 ing how very regular they are, considering the steep irregularity of the cliffs and 

 coasts. 



