OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF GOWER. 513 



of turf. The height of the cavern immediately under this 

 shaft is 40 feet. The inward termination is rounded, but 

 abrupt, the end being composed of a great mass of undisturbed 

 stalagmite, which blocks up the continuation of the fissure. 

 At 9 feet from the end the roof still maintains an elevation of 

 16 feet. 



(b.) Section of Floor Deposits. — The mouth of the cavern is 

 now laid open to a depth of 22 feet, Colonel Wood having ex- 

 cavated down to the fundamental stratum of blocks and breccia 

 through 19| feet of deposits, below the ' Eye ' aperture of 2| 

 feet. When originally opened, the floor was tolerably smooth, 

 and shelved down gradually from the mouth to the extremity, 

 causing the section to exhibit a greater depth of deposits 

 outwards, and gradually decreasing inwards. Colonel Wood, 

 who daily superintended the progress of the operations, drew 

 up an account, at my request, which I have incorporated 

 with my own observations. The following deposits were 

 observed : — 



1. On the surface a bed of sandy peat, stretching all the 

 way back from the bend to the extremity through 46 feet, 

 and varying in thickness from 12 to 15 inches. The peaty 

 substance consisted of bits of sticks and decomposed and 

 comminuted vegetable matter, freely mixed with coarse 

 reddish sand, but maintaining a fair amount of cohesion. In 

 front of the bend, this bed gradually thinned off as it rose on 

 the slope towards the mouth, where it disappeared entirely. 

 The greatest accumulation was immediately under the shaft 

 in the roof, where it formed a flat conical pile like a grain- 

 heap. The materials were here loosely aggregated, and filled 

 several barrow loads when wheeled out by the workmen. It 

 is deserving of notice that, notwithstanding the fissure cha- 

 racter of the cavern roof, this stratum of peat was free from 

 obvious moisture. This is explained by the unusual circum- 

 stance, that the interior in its existing condition is perfectly 

 dry and free from drip, notwithstanding the great amount of 

 stalagmitic deposition at the next lower level. In this peaty 

 stratum there were found, either embedded or lying on the 

 surface, bones of Bos and Wolf, and bones and fragments of the 

 antlers of Deer. Upwards of thirty well-marked specimens, 

 comprising the basal portions, with the bur, and more or less 

 of the beams of antlers belonging to the species or variety 

 allied to the Reindeer, and known under the name of Gervus 

 Guettardi or prisons, were exhumed from the peat, together 

 with the cerebral part of one cranium of the same form. It 

 is deserving of notice that they were all shed horns, no por- 

 tion of the frontals having in any case been found attached 

 to them. The same remark, as a general ride, but with a 



VOL. II. L L 



