4 HEPORT — 1875. 



was followed by the formation of the Crystalline Stalagmite as a continuons 

 sheet of somewhat variable thickness, which sometimes reached fully 3 feet 

 ill this Glallcry; next came that very slow drip and pi'ccipitation of car- 

 bonate of lime which alone seems compatible with the formation of paps, 

 and this continued until the pap just described had reached a height ex- 

 ceeding 30 inches and a girth of 10 ; this was succeeded by some cause of 

 disturbance, which broke the thick floor of Crystalline Stalagmite, depressed, 

 as if by subsidence, the deposit adjacent to one wall, but left every thing 

 intact on the opposite side of the narrow passage, broke the pap into three 

 pieces, leaving the lowest of them still erect, causing the middle segment to 

 fall at its foot on the outside, and that which formed the apex on the inside ; 

 finally, this was followed by another shect-lilco floor of btalagmite, of less 

 thickness than the former, granular in texture, and capable of preventing 

 the results of the disturbance from being themselves disturbed. A faint 

 earthquake-tremor would, no doubt, suffice to break some of the long com- 

 paratively slender paps ; for some of those which have been found detached 

 have been known to resolve themselves into fragments, even at a touch, the 

 planes of division being at right angles to the longest axis, whilst others of 

 even less thickness will stand a considerable blow. Most of those standing 

 intact emit a musical note when gently struck ; and the notes are such as to 

 show that the rates of vibration, and hence probably the molecular arrange- 

 ment, must differ considerably even in masses differing but little in di- 

 mensions. 



CHnnick's Gallery on being excavated was found to be a somewhat tortuous 

 passage, varying from 4 to 8 feet in width, and from 7 to 10 feet in height *, 

 That it was once a watercourse there can be little or no doubt, as the roof 

 bears the marks of the long-continued action of a running stream. The 

 walls vary considerably — being in some places smooth, in others mucli fretted 

 or corroded, and in others more or less angular. 



The objects of interest found in this branch of the Cavern daring the 

 last twelve mouths have been by no means numerous ; nevertheless they 

 are not without interest, as a few of them throw a new light on the palaj- 

 ontology of the Cavern. 



Attached to the upper surface of the Granular Stalagmitic Floor, the least 

 ancient of the two deposits of that material, portions of three land-shells 

 (No. 6477) were found, 23rd October, 1874 ; and on the 31st of the same 

 month about 20 bones of Mammals (No. 6481) were met with, lying toge- 

 ther loose on the Floor, beneath a few smaU fragments of Stalagmite. Their 

 characters are such as to imply a recent introduction into the Cavern. 



Incorporated in the Granular Stalagmite itself were a few bones, including 

 a humerus (No. 6475), a tibia and ulna (No. 6476), all nearly entire, and 

 a portion of a large humerus (No. 6491), each of which had been gnawed. 



TJiough no Cave-eartli was met with beyond the point already specified, 

 there seems no doubt that to the era of that deposit may be referred a con- 

 siderable portion of a radius (No. 6484) and of an ulna (No. 6489), both 

 gnawed and found under loose pieces of stalagmite. 



The Breccia in this Gallery was not much more productive. The total 

 remains of animals it has yielded since the last Report was presented arc 

 4 teeth of Bear, a few bones and fragments of bone, and 3 teeth of Lion in 

 three portions of, no doubt, one and the same lower jaw. The latter " find" 

 (No. 6482) is of considerable interest, as being the first known instance of 



* All heights mentioned in this Report have been measured from the bottom of the 

 excavations made by the Committee, 



