I 



OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF GOWER. 515 



6. Next, a bed of cave earth, or yellow ochreous loarn 6 to 

 7 feet thick, containing" sparsely disseminated angular frag- 

 ments of limestone, and occasionally a large block. This 

 extended down to the cemented fundamental stratum of 

 blocks and breccia, forming the diaphragm between the 

 upper and lower stories, and upon the ledge of which the 

 ochreous bone-breccia rested tha/t was precipitated into the 

 chasm below. 



The above may be taken as fairly representing- an average 

 section of the deposits. But they varied a good deal in re- 

 lative thickness, according to the distance from the mouth 

 where the section was taken. Near the entrance, and for a 

 stretch of 26 feet inwards, what remains of the deposit upon 

 the walls exhibits nearly throughout, from the stalagmite 

 bed down to the bottom, a rich yellow ochreous loam or cave 

 earth, interspersed with small fragments of limestone. In- 

 wards from the bend, towards the extremity, the loam is 

 intermixed with a gritty incoherent sand ; but the excavations 

 have not been carried out so deeply here. Near the end, the 

 section, when I last visited ' Bosco's Den,' extended only to a 

 depth of 2^ feet below the stalagmite floor, the workmen 

 having been afraid of the substratum giving way, and pre- 

 cipitating them fnto an unknown chasm below. 



(c.) Organic Remains — Singular abundance of shed Deers' 

 Antlers. — Taking into account the close proximity of ' Bosco's 

 Den ' to ' Bacon Hole ' on the one side, and ' Minchin Hole ' 

 on the other, and the very considerable aggregate formed by 

 its deposits, the association of animals found in it is not a 

 little remarkable. Not a single specimen referable to any 

 species, either of Elephant or Rhinoceros, was ever met with 

 in ' Bosco's Den ' by Colonel Wood. Teeth and bones of 

 Hyaena s-peloea and of the Cave Lion were equally wanting ; 

 so also were teeth of Equus, which are excessively abundant 

 in Paviland and ' Spritsail-Tor.' Bones of Bear were fre- 

 quent ; those of Wolf very abundant, together with bones of 

 Fox, Deer, and Bos. But the most singular circumstance 

 was the extraordinary abundance of the antlers of Deer. I 

 passed through my hands, in the collection at Stout Hall, no 

 fewer than 750 distinct antlers, belonging either to varieties 

 of Reindeer or to a species (Cervus Guettardi) very closely 

 allied to it. I afterwards saw in the cave about 50 more, 

 and Colonel Wood has by subsequent acquisitions raised the 

 number to somewhat short of eleven hundred. To guard 

 against error, no specimens were taken into the reckoning 

 but such as presented the base of the beam and bur. As a 

 general rule, they were of small size, more or less broken, 

 and the great majority of them belonged to young animals. 



