'66 REPORT— 1880. 



larger tlian usual were, perhaps, somewliat more than commonly pre- 

 valent in the lowest levels ; but it still remains the fact that, so far as 

 ■ is at present known, the Breccia is the oldest deposit found in the Cavern. 

 Pieces of Stalagmitic Floor, necessarily of still greater antiquity, pre- 

 sented themselves occasionally in the Breccia, a fact which had been fre- 

 quently observed during the four-feet excavation ; but no trace of the 

 unbroken Floor whence they were derived has ever been detected. 



On June 19, 1880, the Committee, having spent all the money placed 

 at their disposal by the General Committee of the Association, as well as 

 by their private friends, were under the necessity of suspending the work 

 and discharging the workmen. Nearly seven months had been spent on 

 the second or lower excavation, and though no more than eighteen ' finds ' 

 (Nos. 7323 to 7840) had been met with, the following description of 

 them will show that the expenditiire of time and money had not been 

 quite in vain. 



No 7323. A flint ' nodule-tool,' the butt end rudely an inequilateral 

 quadrilateral, about 2"6 inches by 2 '3 inches, and almost quite flat. When 

 standing on this as a base, the tool may be described as an oblique trian- 

 gular pyi-amid, its axis being at an oblique angle to the base. It attains 

 its greatest girth about 1'5 inch above the base, where it measures 

 9'7 inches. The faces of the pyramid are by no means planes, and no 

 two of them are of the same width. Their common vertex is a rather 

 blunt edge about '9 inch long, and their greatest widths 3'4 inches, 3*3 

 inches, and 1'5 inch. The extreme length of the tool is 5'9 inches. 

 Portions of the original surface of the nodule remain almost everywhere 

 around the butt end, and one face is completely covered with it except a 

 space within 1'5 inch of the vertex, whence one flake has been dislodged. 

 It was found alone, in the Breccia, in the eighth foot-level below the 

 Granular Stalagmitic Floor, on December 11, 1879. 



No. 7324. Two flint specimens (Nos. t^jVt j WW)- — ^O- tA* is a 

 nodule-tool, almost white, and having no remnant of the original surface 

 of the nodule. In outline it is rudely quadrilateral, about 2'1 inches long, ' 

 the breadth at the ends being 1"2 inch and I'l inch ; its greatest thick- 

 ness is about '7 inch, which it attains near the broader end. One face 

 has a tendency to flatness, the other is convex, and has one principal 

 longitudinal ridge, and two or three minor ones. No. -t^w^ is a chip of 

 but little interest. The ' find ' occurred in the Breccia, in the fifth foot- 

 level below the Granular Stalagmitic Floor, where it was met with on 

 January 5, 1880. 



No. 7325. A left last upper molar of Bear, a few pieces of bone, and a 

 small flint chip ; found in the Breccia, in the seventh foot-level below the 

 Granular Stalagmitic Floor, on January 15, 1880. 



No. 7326. A considerable portion of a rather large tibia, the distal 

 end perfect, but the proximal end gone entirely. Found alone in the 

 Breccia, in the seventh foot-level below the Granular Stalagmitic Floor, 

 on January 20, 1880. 



No. 7327. Crown of the tooth of Rhinoceros, found alone, in a ' pocket ' 

 of Cave-earth, on January 21, 1880. 

 ''/I 9>; -^o- 7328. A flint nodule-tool, 5*8 inches long, 2*7 inches in greatest 

 width, and 1 "7 inch in greatest thickness — the maximum width and thick- 

 ness being about two inches from the butt end. It is very convex on one 

 face, slightly so on the other, and has a small patch of the original crust 

 of the nodule at the butt end. The opposite end is round-pointed, and 



