1C8 REPORT — 1875. 



To these arguments we may now add the following: — 



4. That the extent of the glacial deposits now exposed is so great that 

 it is impossible that they can be a mere chance accumulation of 

 boulders which have been redeposited in their present position since 

 glacial times. 



This being the case, it is clear from the position of the boulders beneath 

 all the screes that they form a portion of the general glacial covering of the 

 valleys and hillsides which was left by the ice-sheet at the time of its disap- 

 pearance. 



These are the main arguments to be derived from the cave itself; but 

 further strong presumptive evidence that the Pleistocene fauna lived in the 

 north of England before the ice-sheet exists as foUows : — 



The older fauna once lived in that district, a point which admits of no 

 dispute from its existence iu the Victoria Cave, in Kirkdale Cave, Eaygill 

 Cave in Lothersdale, and perhaps in other caves ; but their bones are now 

 found nowhere in the open country. None of the river-gravels contain them ; 

 and just that district which is conspicuous by their absence is also remark- 

 able for the strongest evidences of great glaciation. If these facts be taken 

 together, the probability is very strong that it was glaciation which destroyed 

 their remains in the o])en countrj'. 



To suppose that they have been destroyed by other subaerial agencies 

 would be to ignore the fact that in the south of England and other non- 

 glaciated areas such remains exist both in caves and iu river-gravels. This 

 view your Eeporter has held for some j'cars ; a somewhat similar view has been 

 well stated by Mr. James Geikie, and Prof. Boyd Dawkins also agrees in it. 



Bones heneaih tlie Talus and on tlie Boulders. 



In removing the talus, certain bones were found lying beneath it upon 

 the boulders. 



They have, so far as practicable, been determined by Prof. Busk ; and he 

 gives the following account of them. 



" They are nearly all fragments, but No. 1 is perfect. 



" 1. Eight calcaneum of Ursus arctos, 3-4 inches long, 2-2 wide, 1*75 high, 



" 2. Portion of a young, much worn left calcaneum of Ursus, with anterior 

 and posterior epiphyses detached. 



" 3-67. Small chips and fragments, mostly apparently of the shafts of long 

 bones and ribs of ruminants. Doubtfully referred to Ox? Deer? Goat? or 

 Sheep ? 



" 68. Fragment, probably Elephant. 



" 69. Fragment of a large Deer-bone. 



" 70. Fragment of long bone of large bird, probably Swan. 



" 72, Sesamoid bone of • ? 



" 77. Fragment of vertebra, perhaps of Bear." 



It is an interesting point, if we could make it out, what is the age of these 

 bones. Are they the remains of animals who died upon the moraine rub- 

 bish before the talus was of sufficient thickness to form a recognizable bed ? 

 or are they bones washed out of the edges of the older cave-earth then exposed 

 above the boulders ? The bone doubtfully referred to Wild Swan would seem 

 to point to a rigorous or temperate* climate. The bone doubtfully referred 



* I have heard of three instances of Wild Swans haling been shot in the immediate 

 neighbourhood. C. Leigh, in his 'Nat. Hist, of Lancashire' &c., published in 1700, says, 

 "Swans are commoD in the.se parts, but more particularly on the sea-coasts " (p. 141). 



