220 BRITISH ASSOCIATION, &C, 



EXETER MEETING or the BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



The following were among the Papers read and subjects discussed at the 

 Exeter Meeting of the British Association in August, 18 39. 



Kent's Cayekn. Mr. Pengelly, F.I!.S., &c., read the "Fifth Report 

 of the Committee on the Exploration of Kent's CaYern," with notes on the 

 mammalian remains. He said that beneath that part of the cavern known 

 as the "vestibule " was a layer of black soil from six to nine inches thick, 

 and known as the "Black Band," which had yielded 366 flint implements, 

 chips, bone tools, bones and teeth of recent and extinct animals, some of 

 which were partially charred. The theory was that they indicated the 

 residence of an ancient British family. To test the disputed question 

 whether it could be used as a cooking place without suffocating the animals, 

 half-a-dozen faggots were lighted, and five persons who acted as the judges 

 decided that the objection on that score was not tenable. In the exploration 

 of the cavern, a daily journal had been kept, and every circumstance was 

 noted down. 3,948 boxes of. fossil bones had been found ; and all the bones, 

 over 50,000 in number, had been separately packed and labelled, shewing 

 their original position ; and Professor Boyd Dawkins undertook to examine 

 them for the purpose of determining the species to which they severally 

 belonged. Among other objects, a bone needle was found on the -4th December, 

 1866, in the Black Band beneath the stalagmitic floor; it was broken, but was 

 supposed to have been originally 2i inches in length ; the eye was capable of 

 carrj'ing a thread the thickness of small twine. A bone harpoon, or fish 

 spear, forked on one side only, was also found beneath the Black Band ; and 

 other undoubted evidences of early human art had been met with. During 

 the years 1868—9, Mr. Everett, who is engaged by the Piajah of Sarawak to 

 explore the caves of Borneo, visited Kent's Cavern for the purpose of famil- 

 iarising himself with the mode of operation. — Proceeding to notice the re- 

 searches made during the present year, Mr. Pengelly described, and illustrated 

 hj diagrams, the various layers underlying the stalagmitic floor. He stated 

 that there was a perennial spring which a mercantile company had proposed 

 to utilise for the purposes of a brewery ; and, describing the narrow passages 

 leading from certain iDortions of the cave to other portions, he said that, in 

 some cases, they were so small as to require explorers to progress in a re- 

 cumbent position and by a vermicular motion. The cave earth, or floor, 

 underneath the stalagmite, was full of flint implements, teeth of the mam- 

 moth, bear, hyasna, etc., and gnawed and split bones. In the cavern were 

 found initials of individuals, and names and dates. One remarkable inscrip- 

 tion was "Eobert Hedges, of Ireland, February 20, 1688," and it was believed 

 that the date was genuine The inscription was on the stalagmite, and 

 proved that the drip of two centuries had not sufficed for its obliteration. 

 Beneath the eaith was a breccia, and up to last year not the slightest traces of 

 man had been found; but this year, en the 5th of March, there was found 



