'92 Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 



Carboniferous Limestone, from 1100 to 1200 feet above Ordnance- 

 datum, and forming at this spot the water-parting between the 

 tributaries of the Goyte, flowing past Chapel-en-le-Frith westward 

 into the Mersey, and those flowing southward and eastward, past 

 Buxton, to join the Derwent. It is a little to the north of the 

 centre of the divide. On the western side the limestone dips at 

 an angle of 15° underneath the Yoredale sandstones and grit, which 

 form the lower half of a range of hills, extending southward to 

 Buxton and beyond. The upper half is composed of shales and 

 sandstones of the Millstone Grit Series, that rise in Black Edge 

 to a height of 1662 feet. The drainage of the eastern slope of 

 these hills passes downward, until it arrives at the limestone, where 

 it sinks into the rock, through the many swallow-holes which mark 

 the upper boundary of the limestone. There are no surface streams 

 in the limestone in the immediate neighbourhood of the Victory 

 Quarry, which, from its position on the divide, could not, under 

 existing geographical conditions, receive the drainage from this 

 western range of hills or any other source. 



In the course of working the quarry, in the beginning of 1901, 

 a cave was discovered, and fully exposed in the course of 1902. 

 It was about 90 feet long, 15 feet high, and 4 feet broad. It ran 

 nearly horizontally north and south, and consisted of a large 

 chamber and a small passage, both eroded in a master-joint. On 

 the south it contracted to a dead end, now quarried away. Its 

 continuation to the north is obscured by a great accumulation of 

 broken rock and clay, which has not yet been removed. It was 

 filled with a horizontally stratified red clay, containing angular and 

 rolled pebbles of limestone, and a few sandstone pebbles from the 

 Millstone Grit and Yoredale rocks. There were also a few pebbles 

 of white vein-quartz and of quartzite. Scattered through the mass 

 were mammalian bones and teeth, some water-worn and others 

 with sharp fractures. The contents had been clearly introduced 

 into the cave by water, flowing under geographical conditions 

 which no longer exist. 



The mammalian remains belong to the following species : — 



Machairodiis crenatidens, Fabr. Rhinoceros etrusciis, Falc. 



Hymia, sp. Equus stenonis, Nesli. 



Mastodon arvernensis, Croiz. & Job. Cervus etueriarutn, Croiz. & Job. 

 Elephas meridionalis, NesK. 



All these species are found in the Upper Pliocene deposits of 

 France and Italy, and undoubtedlj'- belong to that age. The 

 Mastodon, elephant, rhinoceros, and horse occur also in Britain in 

 the Upper Pliocene deposits of the Crag. 



Some of the bones present the characteristic teeth-marks of the 

 hyeenas ; and the preponderance of the remains of the young over 

 the adult mastodons points to the selection by the hyasnas, who 

 could easily master the calves, while they did not as a rule attack 

 the large and formidable adults. The author has observed a similar 

 selection in the case of mammoths in hyeena-dens, into which the 

 remains had been brought by those cave-haunting animals. He 



