38 REPORT— 1872. 



It was found November 18, 1871, with 5 teeth of hyaena, 2 of raegaceros, 

 1 of horse, and 1 of rhinoceros, in the third Level of Cave-earth. 



Besides the implements, there is a jiiece of chert having the form of a rude 

 triangular pyramid, 3-2 inches high, its scalene base being 3'3 inches long 

 and 1*2 inch broad. It was found November 30, 1871, with 2 teeth of 

 hyaena, 3 of horse, and 1 of ox, in the third Level of Cave-earth. Its form 

 is scarcely indicative of an artificial origin ; and though its edges are some- 

 what rounded, it does not seem possible for it to have been transported by 

 natural agency from the nearest locality in which such material is now found 

 in situ, without being much more rounded than it is. 



Before proceeding to another branch of the Cavern, the Committee would 

 remark that they commenced their investigation of the Wolfs Cave on July 

 12, 1871, and from that time until they had reached its termination, as well 

 as that of its offshoot, the Cave of Rodentia (a period of nearly six months), 

 they cherished the hope that, like Mr. MacEnery, they might find some remains 

 of Macliairodiis latidens. During their progress they were daily face to face 

 with their energetic predecessor's labours, and from time to time met with 

 the tools with which they were performed * ; but they had finally to leave 

 the two Caves on December 30, 1871, with a feeling of great disappointment 

 that neither amongst the many hundreds of specimens which Mr. MacEnery 

 had left in his broken ground, nor in the Cave-earth remaining intact beside 

 and beneath his diggings, had they met with any trace of the great object 

 and hope of their search. 



MacEnery states that he found the famous canines "in diluvial mud mixed 

 with teeth and gnawed bones of rhinoceros, elephant, horse, ox, elk, and deer, 

 with teeth and bones of hyaenas, bears, wolves, foxes, &c.'"t, and that he 

 subsequently discovered an incisor of the same species in the same bed J. It 

 will be seen from Table III., given above, that, with scarcely any other 

 exception than that of Machairodits, such an assemblage of remains as he 

 enumerates was actually found by the Committee in the very soil which he 

 had examined and cast aside ; and from Table I., that of the animals in his 

 list, just quoted, the great sabre-toothed Felis was the only one which failed 

 to present itself when the Committee broke up the undisturbed Cave-earth 

 lying below that which yielded the canines and incisor. When to this it is 

 added that the most careful search by the Committee failed to detect in the 

 Cave-earth which they excavated any remnant of the older Cavern deposit, 

 and that MacEnery was struck with the fact that, though " dehcately edged," 

 the canines were found quite uninjured in the midst of the shattered bones §, 

 a strong case seems to be made out in favour of the propositions that Machair- 

 odus belonged to the Devonshire Cave-earth fauna, and that his remains 

 found in Kent's Cavern were not redeposited fossils. 



The Charcoal Cave. — Two passages open out of the south-west comer of 

 the Sloping Chamber, opposite the entrance of the Wolfs Cave. The more 

 important is of considerable length, and leads in a south-westerly direction 

 to a series of large chambers, in which the Committee have not yet under- 

 taken any researches. Mr. MacEnery designated this the " Long Arcade." 



Very near its mouth is the entrance of the second passage, to which, for a 



* The tools were two hammers, a small chisel, a trowel, and an iron scraper. It cannot 

 be necessary to state that these mementos of him who first made the Cavern famous liave 

 been carefully preserved. 



t See " Plate F," ' Cavern Researches,' edited by E. Vivian, Esq., 18.59. 



X See Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. iii. p. 370. § Ibid. p. 294. 



