OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF GOWER. 517 



from the surface of the bank, without attacking it with the 

 pick-axe. The deposit bore all the characters of a bed of 

 compact marine sand and gravel. 



(/.) Partition bed between upper and lower stories. — The 

 roof of the lower chamber was nearly flat, and consisted of 

 huge blocks of limestone mixed with smaller angular frag- 

 ments, the interstices filled up with gravel, and the whole 

 cemented by stalagmitic infiltration into a strongly coherent 

 mass. On the upper side ochreous loam replaced the inter- 

 stitial gravel. The projecting ledge of this bed was about 

 6 feet thick, and sloped upwards to the mouth of the upper 

 chamber, where the thickness was estimated to be about 14 

 feet. The materials corresponded in the general character 

 with the bed of angular debris observed by Mr. Prestwich, 

 on the raised beach of Mewslade Bay. 



On the whole, 'Bosco's Den,' of all the Gower caves, 

 furnishes the most complete succession of marine, brecciated, 

 and alluvial deposits, disposed in a section of not less than 

 47 feet. 



10. 'Bowen's Parlour' or ''Devil's Hole.' General 

 Form and Dimensions. — Upper and Lower Chambers : 

 swept out by the sea. 



The cave named ' Bowen's Parlour,' by Colonel Wood, is 

 known to the quarrymen of the neighbourhood by the name 

 of the 'Devil's Hole,' from its singular and striking appear- 

 ance. It is situated to the east of ' Crow Hole,' and between 

 ' Crow Hole ' and ' Bosco's Den.' Geologically regarded, it is 

 one of the most interesting and instructive of the series, 

 inasmuch as it is washed out, thus presenting as it were the 

 skeleton framework of 'Bosco's Den' denuded of its deposits. 

 Like the latter, it is situated in an angular fissure, narrow at 

 the top and gradually expanding below to a width of 14 feet. 

 The cave, which is about 40 feet high, is divided horizontally 

 by a thick cake of stalagmite, concreting brecciated fragments 

 of limestone into a solid diaphragm, so as to form an open 

 chamber of about 20 feet high at the mouth, and extending 

 back 53 feet, for the upper division ; and under it, a lower 

 chamber of about 14 feet in height. At high tides and with 

 heavy south-westerly gales, the waves beat freely up into it, 

 and the lower story is completely washed out; the outer 

 thick part of the diaphragm remains forming a solid arch, 

 but the reverberating action of the waves has operated with 

 such force against the back part, that the central portion of 

 the partition has tumbled in, leaving a gap in the floor of 

 the upper chamber 16 feet long. A fine section of the calca- 

 reous breccia is thus exposed, showing that it was deposited 



