ON Kent's cavern, Devonshire. 201 



tion, at first suggested the idea that they were the beds of that animal, whose 

 habit it is to crouch in particular spots ; but the occurrence of charcoal, and 

 other indications of the presence of man, in the vicinity of the hollows were 

 thought rather to lead to the opinion that they were rude hearths or ovens 

 scooped out by savages, around which they collected to cook and enjoy the 

 spoils of the chase *. 



Before returning from this digression it may be well to offer a few remarks 

 on two or three points in the foregoing description, on which the exploration 

 now in progress is calculated to throw some light : — 



Ist. " The loose heaps of red marl " in all probability consisted of material 

 deposited in the era of the Cave-earth, and over which no stalagmite had in 

 those particular spots ever been formed. If, however, they were actually 

 observed, and not merely inferred, to " overspread the stalagmite," the latter, 

 there can be little doubt, was the " Crystalline Stalagmitic Eloor," older than 

 the Cave-earth, of which the Committee have found numerous portions in the 

 Arcade during the present year, as well as in other branches of the cavern in 

 previous years, some of them in situ and others not. 



2nd, The Committee have also found a considerable quantity of coprolitic 

 matter in the Arcade, never, however, more than 12, and rarely more than 

 6 inches below the surface. This material has been met with in all parts of 

 the cavern wherever the Cave-earth has presented itself, but in no instance 

 in any older or more modern deposit, whether of mechanical or chemical 

 origin. The " Lecture Hall " may perhaps be equally entitled to the name 

 of the Hycence Cloaca Maccima f. 



3rd. There seems no reason to doubt that the " three circular hollows," 

 instead of being the " beds of bears " or " hearths or ovens scooped out by 

 savages," were natural basins in the stalagmite, such as were described in the 

 Committee's Eighth Report +; for, to say nothing of the fact that several 

 such basins, even when not more than a very few inches in diameter, have con- 

 tained charred wood, possibly washed into them in rainy seasons (when such 

 basins are fuU to overflowing), or perhaps dropped into them accidentally by 

 recent visitors, it is difficult to understand why a savage should have selected 

 for his hearth a spot having nothing to recommend it but its darkness and 

 inconvenience, whilst so many others, in every respect more eligible, were 

 equally at his command. It is noteworthy that, in another part of his 

 memoir, Mr. MacEnery, replying to Dr. Buckland's suggestion that " the 

 ancient Britons had scooped out ovens in the stalagmite," says, " Without 

 stopping to dwell on the difficulty of ripping up a solid floor, which, notwith- 

 standing the advantage of undermining and the exposure of its edges, still 

 defies all our efforts, though commanding the apparatus of the quarry, I am 

 bold to say that in no instance have I discovered evidence of breaches or ovens 

 in the floor " §, 



But waiving all this, the Committee, on March 31 , 1873, in the course of 

 their work reached a hollow precisely similar to those Mr. MacEnery de- 

 scribes. It was of oval form, 4 feet long, 2 broad, and 9 inches deep, and 

 contained nearly ten gallons of beautifully pure water, but, instead of having 

 been formed by a bear or a human being, it was an example of Nature's 

 handiwork, and in such a position as to render it certain that the foreman of 

 the exploration now in progress was the first human being who ever saw it. 

 It was in the stalagmite covering the deposit, which, as already stated, com- 



* See Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. iii. pp. 235-7, 253-4, 270, 290, and 302-5 (1869). 

 t See Report Brit. Assoc. 1868, p. 49. X Ibid. 1872, p. 45. 



§ See Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. iii. p. 334 (1869). 



