ON Kent's cavern^ Devonshire, 29 



eaten through the basket, the bag was torn iuto the merest shreds, and the bread 

 was gone. Thus stimulated, the men baited their traps with great care, and 

 had the pleasure of catching seven or eight rats. No further annoyance was 

 experienced until July, when a large rat was seen to enter the Cavern about 

 midday. The poor wretch was found dead in the trap in a day or two. 



During the last twelve months the Committee have explored the branches 

 of the " Western Division " of the Cavern known as " The "Wolf's Cave," 

 " The Cave of Rodentia," and " The Charcoal Cave," and have commenced 

 " The Long Arcade." 



The Wolfs Cave. — That branch of the Cavern which extends in a northerly 

 direction from "The Sloping Chamber" was, by Mr. MacEnery, termed "The 

 Wolfs Cave," and occasionally "The Idol Cave"*. It received the latter 

 name from " a column of spar " which, " near its entrance, joined the ceiling 

 and floor and obstructed the way," and " had a singular resemblance to a 

 Hindoo Idol " f ; and the former, because, on the removal of this " column," it 

 was found to have " covered the head of a wolf, perhaps the largest and 

 finest skuU, whether fossil or modern, of that animal in the world "J. 



Mr. MacEnery seems to have been eminently successful in collecting speci- 

 mens in this branch of the Cavern ; for he states that " of the quantity and 

 condition of the remains here it is scarcely possible to give a just idea with- 

 out appearing to exaggerate. They were so thickly packed together that, 

 to avoid injuring them, we were obliged to lay aside the picks and to grub 

 them out with our fingers. They were found driven into the interstices of 

 the opposite wall, or piled in the greatest confusion against its sides, with but 

 a scanty covering of soil, and that of the finest and softest sand intermixed 

 with greasy earth. To enumerate the amount of fossils collected from this 

 spot would be to give the inventory of half my collection, comprising all the 

 genera and their species, including the cuUridens. There were hoards." 

 Here, too, he appears to have found all the remains of Machairodus latidens 

 (known then as Ursiis cultrklcns) the Cavern yielded him, which he states 

 were five canines and one incisor§. 



When completely excavated to the depth of 4 feet below the base of the 

 Stalagmitic Floor, this Cave was found to extend nearly 70 feet in a north- 

 westerly direction, and at its entrance, or junction with the Sloping Chamber, 

 to be about 40 feet wide. At 3 yards inside the entrance it narrows to about 

 20 feet, at 7 yards to 10 feet, and beyond this its general width is from 7 to 

 8 feet II . Its present height is about 7 feet throughout; but before the com- 

 mencement of Mr. MacEnery's diggings, the space between the Limestone Roof 

 and the Stalagmitic Floor could nowhere have exceeded 2 feet, even if the latter 

 had been entirely free from rubbish. Indeed he states that when they first 

 entered this branch, he and his companions " crawled like tortoises "^. 



At the entrance the Ptoof is commonly fretted as if by the action of acidu- 

 lated water ; but here and there, and especially on the eastern side, its com- 

 paratively fresh and smooth aspect indicates what may be termed the recent 

 fall of masses of limestone from it,— an indication confirmed by the presence 

 of such masses, some of them of great dimensions, immediately below. At 

 intervals throughout the entire length of the Cave transverse lines of frac- 

 ture, or divisional planes, appear in the Roof : some of them are close-fitting, 



* He also spoke of it sometimes as " The Wolfs Passage " and " The Wolfs Grave." 

 + SeeTr.Devon.Assoc.vol.iii.pp.243,293(1869). | Ib.p.243. § lb. pp. 369, 370. 

 II The breadth is always measured at the level of the surface of the Cave-earth. In thi.s 

 Cave it was invariably narrower at the bottom of the excavation. 

 ^ See Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. iii. p. 292. 



8 



