563 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol.. II., No. 38. 



The breccia was just as rich as the cave-earth in 

 osseous remains, but the lists of species represented 

 by the two deposits were very different. It will be 

 sufficient to state here, that while remains of the hy- 

 ena prevailed numerically very far above those of 

 any other mammal in the cave-earth, and while bis 

 presence there was also attested by liis teetli-uiarks 

 on avast number of bones; by lower jaws (includ- 

 ing those of his own kith and kin), of which he had 

 eaten off the lower borders as well as the condyles; 

 by long bones broken obliquely, just as hyenas of 

 the present day break them ; and by surprising quan- 

 tities of his coprolites, — there was not a single indica- 

 tion of any kind of his presence in the breccia, where 

 the crowd of bones and teeth belonged almost entire- 

 ly to bears. 



No trace of the existence of man was found in the 

 breccia until March, 1809, — that is, about twelve 

 months after the discovery of the deposit itself, — 

 when a flint flake was met with in the third foot- 

 level, and was believed not only to be a tool, but to 

 bear evidence of having been used as such (see Re- 

 port Brit, assoc, 1869, pp 201, 202). Two massive 

 flint implements ■were discovered in the same deposit 

 in May, 1872; and at various subsequent times other 

 tools were found, until, at the close of the exploration, 

 the breccia had yielded upwards of seventy imple- 

 ments of flint and chert. 



While all the stone tools of both the cave-earth and 

 the breccia were paleolithic, and were found inos- 

 culating with remains of extinct mammals, a mere 

 inspection shows that they belong to two distinct 

 categories. Those found in the breccia — that is, 

 the more ancient series — were formed by chipping a 

 flint nodule or pebble into a tool; while those from 

 the cave-earth, (he less ancient series, were fashioned 

 by first detatching a suitable flake from the nodule or 

 pebble, and then trimming the flake, not the nodule, 

 into a tool. 



It must be unnecessary to say that the making of 

 nndule-tools necessitaled the production of flakes 

 and chips, some of which were no doubt utilized. 

 Such flakes, however, must be regarded as accidents, 

 and not the final objects the workers had in view. 



It is worthy of remark, that in one part of the cav- 

 ern, upwards of a hundred and thirty feet in length, 

 the excavation was carried to a depth of nine feet, 

 instead of the usual four feet, below the bottom of 

 the stalagmite; and that, while no bone of any kind 

 occurred in the breccia below the seventh foot-level, 

 three fine flint nodule-tools were found in the eighth, 

 and several flint chips in the ninth or lowest foot- 

 level. 



It may be added that the same fact presented it- 

 self in the lowest or corresponding bed iu Brixham 

 Windmill-hill Cavern. In short, in each of the two 

 famous Devonshire caverns the archeological zone 

 reached a lower level than the paleontological. 



That the breccia is of higher antiquity than the 

 cave-earth, is proved by the unquestionable evidence 

 of clear, undisturbed superposition; that they repre- 

 sent two distinct cliapters and eras in the cavern his- 

 tory, is shown by the decided dissimilarity of the 



materials composing them, the marked difference in 

 the osseous remains they contained, and the strongly 

 contrasted characters of the stone implements they 

 yielded; and that they were separated by a wide in- 

 terval of lime, may be safely inferred from the thick- 

 ness of the bed of stalagmite between them. 



It is probable, however, that the fact most signifi- 

 cant of time and physical change is the presence o£ 

 the hyeua in the cave-earth or less ancient, but not 

 in the breccia or more ancient, of tlie two deposits, 

 I called attention to this fact in a paper read to this 

 department ten years ago (see Eeport Brit, aasoc, 

 1873, pp. 209-214), and at greater length elsewhere 

 in 1S75 (see Trans. Plijin. iiist., v. 300-375). Bearing 

 in mind the cave-haunting liabits of the hyena, the 

 great preponderance of his remains in the cave-earth, 

 and their absence in the breccia, it seems impossible 

 to avoid the conclusion that he was not an occupant 

 of Britain during the earlier period. 



The acceptance of this conclusion, however, neces- 

 sitates the belief, 1°, that man was resident in Britain 

 long before the hyena was; 2°, that it was possible 

 for the hyena to reach Britain between the deposition 

 of the breccia and the deposition of the cave-earth; 

 in other words, that Britain was a part of the con- 

 tinent during this Interval. 



Sir C. Lyell, it will be remembered, recognized the 

 following geographical changes within the British 

 area between the newer pliocene and historical times 

 (see 'Antiquity of man,' edition 1873, pp. 331, 332) : — 



Firstly, A pre-glacial continental period, towards 

 the close of which the Forest of Cromer flourished, 

 and the climate was somewhat milder than at present. 



Secondly, A period of submergence, when the land 

 north of the Thames and Bristol Channel, and that 

 of Ireland, was reduced to an archipelago. This was 

 a part of the glacial age, and icebergs floated in our 

 waters. 



Thirdly, A second continental period, when there 

 were glaciers in the higher mountains of Scotland 

 anil Wales. 



Fourthly, The breaking-up of the land through 

 submergence, and a gradual change of temperature, 

 resulting in the present geographical and climalal 

 conditions. 



It is obvious, that if, as I ventxire to think, the 

 Kent's Cavern breccia was deposited during the first 

 continental period, the list of mammalian remains 

 found in it should not clash with the list of such re- 

 mains from the Forest of Cromer, which, as we have 

 just seen, flourished at that time. I called attention 

 to these lists in 1874, pointing out, that, according to 

 Professor Boyd Dawkiiis (' Cave-hunting,' p. 418), the 

 forest-bed had at that time yielded twenty-six species 

 of mammals, sixteen of them being extinct and ten 

 recent; that both the breccia and the fore<t-l)ed had 

 yielded remains of the cave-bear, but that in neither 

 of them bad any relic or trace of hyena been fimnd. 

 A monograph on the ' Vertebrata of the forest-bed 

 series ' was published in 1882 by Mr. E. T. Newton, 

 F.G.S., who, includingmauy additional species found 

 somewhat recently, but eliminating all those about 

 which tliere was any uncertainty, said, "We still 



