42 Correspondence — Rev. 0. Fisher. 



ON SUPPOSED THERMAL SPEINGS IN CAMBEIDGESHIRE. 



Sir, — A paper was read at the late meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation by Mr. Harmer, " On some Thermal Springs in the Fens of 

 Cambridgeshire." I have not had an opportunity of visiting them, 

 but, knowing the general character of the district, I have thought 

 over the matter, and asked myself whether, since they are stated to 

 be shallow farmyard wells, the temperature of the water may not 

 be due to fermenting manure. To-day I went into a farmyard in 

 this village, and found them laying up the manure in heaps, previous 

 to carting it away upon the land. The manure was already hot and 

 steaming when they removed it from the area of the yard, on which 

 it lay two feet deep. There stands a pump in the centre of the yard; 

 and I asked the farm-servant, who lives on the spot, whether the 

 water was warm. " Yes," said he, " almost as warm as new milk. 

 And so is the water from the other well " (which stands on the edge 

 of the yard). I fetched a thermometer, and found the water in the 

 yard at (So° Far., that in the well on the edge of the yard at 54"^, 

 while the temperature of the air was 44°. Snow has been lying on 

 the ground for five days, and disappeared only last night. In 

 thawing it has gone into the farmyard well, and discoloured the 

 water ; else probably the temperature might have been higher, for the 

 workman considered the water less warm than usual. In these wells 

 the water stands at about twelve feet from the surface. They are fed 

 by springs from the lower chalk, the water being held up by the 

 gault. In such a country as this, the idea of Thermal springs being 

 fed by faults from below seems improbable, since, though there 

 may be faults, it is scarcely possible that open fissures can exist 

 in the soft clays of the district. 

 Harlton, Cambridgeshire, O. xlSHEE. 



Dec. 13, 1870. 



THE ALLEGED OCCURRENCE OF MACEAIROBUS' ZATIDUJSfS IN 

 KENT'S CAVERN, TORQUAY. 



Sir, — Your readers are doubtless aware that in certain English 

 museums there are canines of Machairodus latidens (formerly known 

 as JJrsus cultridens), said to have been found in Kent's Cavern, by 

 the late Eev. J. MacEnery ; and that some palaeontologists, including 

 M. E. Lartet and the late Dr. Falconer, have doubted whether they 

 really did belong to the Cavern series. 



In 1869 I printed all the evidence which existed on the subject, 

 so far as was then known,* and have reason to believe that the 

 doubts mentioned above were fully disposed of. 



My present object, however, is to ask for sufficient space in your 

 Magazine to record an unpublished fact having an important bearing 

 on the question. Through the kindness of Professor Phillips, I 

 have recently found that in May, 1826, Mr. MacEnery sent to the 

 Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society a set of specimens 



1 See Trans. Devon Assoc, vol. iii., pp. 481-494. 1869. 



