184 Reports and Proceedings — 



2. " On the Bone-caves in the neighbourhood of Castleton, Derby- 

 shire." By Booke Bennington, Esq., LL.B. Communicated by Brof. 

 W. Boyd Dawkins, F.E.S., F.G.S. 



The author described as a Brehistoric Cave, the Cave Dale Cave 

 situated in Cave Dale just below the keep of Beveril Castle. The 

 upper earth in this cave contained fragments of late pottery mixed up 

 (by rabbits) with bits of rude prehistoric pottery, a tooled piece of 

 stag's horn, an iron spike, two worked flints, a piece of jet, part of a 

 bone comb, and a bronze celt of peculiar form, many bones of Bos 

 longifrons and goat, broken to get out the marrow, and remains of 

 hogs ; charcoal and human teeth also attested the occupation of the 

 cave by man. There were also remains of fox, badger, cat, water-rat, 

 dog, red deer, duck, fowl, and hare. Lower down were remains of 

 Bos longifrons, hog, red deer, wolf, and horse ; and lower still, next the 

 rock, more human teeth, remains of animals, and a good flint. The 

 cave seemed to have been occupied from time to time during a 

 lengthened period, probably from the Neolithic age into those of bronze 

 and iron. A cave in Gelly or Hartle Dale, contained, in blackish 

 mould, bones (some broken) of goat, pig, fox, and rabbit, and pieces of 

 very rude prehistoric pottery. 



Of Bleistocene caves and fissures the author described several. One 

 in Hartle Dale furnished remains of Bhinoceros, Aurochs (Bison priscus), 

 and Mammoth, lying in yellow earth. The bones were probably carried 

 in by water. A fissure near the village of Waterhouses, in Stafford- 

 shire, is six feet wide, and filled with the ordinary loam. Bones of 

 Mammoths and the skeleton of a young Bison have been obtained from 

 it, and the author supposes the animals to have fallen into the fissure 

 while making for the river to drink. The Windy Knoll fissure is 

 situated near Castleton, in a quarry near the top of the Winnetts, and 

 close to the most northern boundary of the mountain limestone of 

 Derbyshire. The author described particularly the situation of this fis- 

 sure, and the drainage of the district in which it is situated. The fissure 

 itself is filled with the ordinary loam, containing fragments of lime- 

 stone, and inclosing an astonishing quantity of bones of animals con- 

 fusedly mixed together, those lowest down near the rocks being coated 

 with and sometimes united by stalagmite. The author supposes that this 

 was a swampy place into which animals fell from time to time, and in 

 rainy seasons their remains might be washed into it from the neighbour- 

 ing slopes. 



3. "The Mammalia found at Windy Knoll." By Brof. W. Boyd 

 Dawkins, M.A., F.B.S., F.G.S. 



This paper contained an enumeration of the remains of Mammalia 

 found in the Windy Knoll fissure described by Mr. Bennington. They 

 were stated to belong to the following species : Bison, Beindeer, Grisly 

 Bear, Wolf, Fox, Hare, Babbit, and Water-rat. Great quantities of 

 bones and teeth were found, the number of individuals represented by 

 the remains being given roughly by the author as follows : — 



Bison 40-60 



Beindeer 20-30 



Grisly Bear 4- 5 



Wolf 7 



