TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 663 



of 410 feet, where the water sinks in a deep pool. These waters run through an 

 unknown course near which is Elden Hole, a vertical shaft 200 feet deep, with a 

 further drop of about 50 feet below. This is now dry. The water is next met with 

 at the upper end of the Speedwell Cave, where it wells up from a deep pool. The 

 stream flows through the Speedwell Cave for 800 feet into the disused workings 

 of the Speedwell Mine, being joined on its way by another passage 500 feet long, 

 at the upper end of which is a fine chamber. The combined streams flow through 

 the old workings for 1,000 feet, and finally fall into the 60-called ' bottomless pit,' 

 ■which is actually 90 feet deep, the bottom being filled with water 22 feet deep. 

 The upper extension of the pit has not been explored within historic times, although 

 the miners evidently climbed it. From the Bottomless Pit to the entrance of 

 the Speedwell Mine there is a straight flooded working 750 yards long, through 

 which visitors are taken in boats. The next point at which the stream is met 

 with is at the upper end of the Peak Cave. It flows in here at two points, which 

 passages are found to join at about 100 yards from the portion of the cave 

 ordinarily visited. The total length of the Peak Cave ordinarily visited is 

 1,528 feet. 



5. Further Exploration of the Mitchelstown Caves, 1908-10. 

 By Dr. Charles A. Hill, M.A., M.B., D.Ph. 



An account of these two caves, as far as was then known, was read by the 

 author at the Dublin Meeting, 1908. Since that date two visits have been paid to 

 the spot, and an exhaustive exploration and survey of both caves completed. 

 Some of these results have already been published in the ' Proceedings ' of the 

 Royal Irish Academy (1909). The present paper detailed the results of the latest 

 exploration in March 1910, and was illustrated with numerous lantern slides of 

 stalactite formations within the caves, together with maps and plans. The total 

 length of the passages surveyed in the two caves measures about a mile and 

 a half. 



