144 REPORT — 1879. 



extends in that direction about 24 feet. The width varies from 10 to 2-6 

 feet ; and the height, from 6 feet, at the entrance, to 8 feet at the inner 

 end. 



Judging from its roof, this Gallery was, during a long period, a-tunnel 

 completely filled with running water ; and this is confirmed by the cha- 

 racter of the walls, on which, however, indications of corrosion, subsequent 

 to the erosion, are numerous and well-marked. 



About 18 feet from the entrance of the first Reach, a considerable 

 irregularly-cylindrical ' Swallow Hole ' extends obliquely upwards into 

 the roof, and is quite empty for a height of about 7 feet, above which it 

 is completely filled with typical Breccia and Stalagmite. The Gallery 

 takes its name from this hale. 



The deposit occupying this gallery was everywhere the Breccia, having 

 no continuous stalagmitic covering until within the innermost 10 feet, 

 and even there its thickness was inconsiderable. The upper surface of 

 the Breccia had a uniform fall, amounting to a total of 38 inches, from 

 the outer to the inner end of the Gallery, where it plnnged rapidly into, 

 and completely filled, a tunnel ; and, being mixed with large masses of 

 limestone, the work in that direction was abandoned on May 24, 1879, 

 the exploration of the Swallow Gallery having occupied about nineteen 

 weeks. 



This branch of the Cavern, the two Reaches included, presented fifty- 

 eight ' finds,' of which thirty- three were on the surface of the Breccia or 

 not more than a foot below it ; fourteen were in the second foot-level ; 

 seven in the third ; and four in the fourth. In the innermost six feet of 

 the second Reach the sections were cut to a depth of 5 feet, instead of the 

 customary 4 feet, but nothing was met with in any of the fifth foot-levels. 

 The 'finds ' included ninety- four teeth of Bear (many of them in pieces of 

 jaw), four of Fox (in two pieces of jaw), one of Horse, one of Sheep, a very 

 lai-ge quantity of bones (many of them much broken), one chert nodule, 

 and three chips and flakes of chert and flint. The ' finds ' were almost 

 equally numerous in the two Reaches, but those in the second or inner 

 Reach were comparatively very rich in specimens : thus, whilst the 

 twenty-eight ' finds ' in the first Reach contained in all no more than 

 twenty teeth of bear, a single 'find' (No. 7,304) in the second Reach, 

 contained also twenty teeth of bear and bones enough to fill a wheelbarrow, 

 and the thirty ' finds ' of this Reach yielded a total of seventy-four teeth 

 of Bear. 



The ' find ' No. 7,297, consisting of bones and pieces of bone, met with 

 in the second foot-level, on April 14, 1879, contained the proximal end of 

 a left tibia, having on it at least five grooves or scores of different depths, 

 and some of them having within them finer scores, parallel to their sides. 

 When inspected with a lens, the surface of the bone showed several finer 

 lines in various directions. As it may be doubted whether the scores 

 were the teeth-marks of any animal, their origin is problematical. 



Here again it may be remarked that several specimens lying on tho 

 surface of the Breccia, without covering of any kind, do not certainly or 

 probably all belong to the era of that deposit. Indeed, the tooth of 

 Sheep already mentioned, and a few bones belonging to the same ' find ' 

 (No. 7,261) are not only open to this cautionary remark, but from their 

 aspect and mineral condition, belong, without doubt, to very recent times. 

 The same may perhaps be said of the tooth of the Horse (No. 7,298), 

 which lay also on the unprotected surface. 



