338 report — 1879. 



Wirks worth, about the year 1820, accidentally come upon in the workings of a 

 lead mine. The finding in it of the remains of elephants, an almost perfect skele- 

 ton of the rhinoceros, and other remains of the same animal, established the 

 fact of the existence of great extinct animals in that part of the world in olden 

 days. In 1875 Mr. Mello found in the caves of Oresswell Grags bones of animals 

 and remains of man's handiwork. The latter were of the highest interest, and 

 led to an important chapter in the history of ancient man upon the earth. Last 

 year his and the author's explorations were fitly ended by the working out of an en- 

 tirely new cave down ' Mother Grundy's Parlour.' Among other remains discovered 

 in the caves of Oresswell, Professor Dawkins named the hyena, the bison, the reindeer, 

 the lion, the hippopotamus, and the bear. Besides these traces of the lower animals, 

 there were in the lower strata rude and rough implements of quartzite, together 

 with fragments of charcoal, proving that man was living in the district in those 

 days. In the upper were more highly finished implements of flint, bone, and 

 antler. The most important contribution, however, which had been offered to 

 the history of man in this country was the discovery of a sketch of the horse 

 engraved on a small fragment of bone. The subject of that engraving brought 

 the cave-men. into relation with those in Switzerland and France, for instance, 

 where similar works of art, of a by no means low order, had been met with. 

 Comparing the remains of implements, the rougher and the more highly finished 

 specimens, they had evidence of the development of man in culture. In 1876 

 the author and Mr. Rooke Pennington explored a cave known as Windy Knoll, 

 near Oastleton, and came across a ' swallow ' hole or chimney, containing vast 

 quantities of the remains of the bison, the grizzly bear, and of some wolves and 

 foxes. They also met with large numbers of the reindeer. He was able to make 

 out an interesting point relating to the time of the year when some of these 

 animals visited that part of the country ; it being pretty clear the bison were there 

 in the summer, and possibly in late spring ; and the reindeer in whiter. The last 

 cavern that had been explored was discovered at Matlock Bath, in 1879, and the 

 remains of animals found were of the same sort as those met with in Oresswell 

 Ora^s. The next most important thing they would like to have settled was - the 

 age of those caverns, but that he looked upon as an impossibility. There was 

 nothing to show that they existed before or during the Glacial period, and all the 

 attempts which had been made to fix a date — outside the written record in the 

 pages of the historian — he looked upon as mischievous, because they put before 

 the minds of people who did not know, a definiteness with regard to geological 

 events which those events did not possess. 



4. Discovery of a Bone Cave near Cappagh, Co. Waterford. 

 By R. J. Ussher and Professor A. Leith Adams, M.A., F.B.S. 



The above cave is in a limestone knoll that rises above a flat containing gravel. 

 The sides of this flat are bounded by similar knolls and cliffs of limestone. The 

 cave, which is tunnel-shaped, was, when discovered, nearly filled to its roof with 

 stratified deposits. The ujyper stratum consisted of dark brown earth, closely 

 packed, containing stones, both angular and worn, the latter chiefly sandstone. 

 The numerous bones found in this stratum were yellow and recent-looking, and were, 

 when not small, usually broken. They represented man, pig, horse, red deer, ox, 

 goat or sheep, dog or wolf, fox, cat, marten, hare, rabbit, and birds. Charcoal 

 occurred frequently. In the top stratum were also found, near the cave's mouth, a 

 polished symmetrical celt of greenish stone, and near it a large flattened bead of a 

 reddish transparent substance. At about fourteen feet inside the entrance was found 

 a cut bone, of the size of a small gimlet-handle, with a hole drilled through it trans- 

 versely, also the broken shaft of some carved implement with one barb or catch 

 remaining ; and at various points stones suited to the hand with ground surfaces, or 

 with their edges chipped as if by use. In one rock crevice was found the shin-bone 

 of some ruminant formed into a chisel, and in another a bone knife handle that 

 had held an iron blade, and was ornamented with concentric circles on its four 



