OSSIFEROUS CAVES OP GOWER. 523 



feet apart, and connected by a contracted passage parallel to 

 the face of the cliff. The principal or eastern apertnre is 

 irregularly vaulted, expanded at the mouth, but suddenly 

 contracting inwards into a shallow chamber of very limited 

 extent. 1 There is still a great amount of stalactite drip from 

 the roof, and the floor deposits were in relation to this con- 

 dition. On the surface there was a layer of loose blown 

 sand a foot and upwards in thickness, which lay upon a floor- 

 ing composed of several distinct strata, throughout which 

 bones, teeth, and splinters of the bones of various species of 

 Mammalia were firmly cemented, forming a compact osseous 

 breccia. Beneath the stalagmite, the irregular fissure of the 

 rocky floor was impacted with cave earth or yellow ochreous 

 loam, containing an immense accumulation of embedded 

 bones. Among these were molar teeth, milk or adult, and 

 other remains of Elephants, including both Elephas antiquus 

 and E. primigenius; bones and teeth of Rhinoceros tichorhinus, 

 Equus, Sus, Bos, Cervus, Lepus, Arvicola, Ursus spelceus, JJ. 

 priscus, Felis spelcea, Canis lupus, C. vulpes, Meles Taxus, and 

 Mustela. Detached carnassiers, premolars, and canine teeth 

 of Hywna were very numerous, together witli fragments of 

 lower jaws. Coprolites of the same species were met with. 

 Bones of the extremities of Bos, Equus, and Cervus, broken 

 up into massive gnawed splinters, exactly like those figured 

 by Buckland, were found in large quantities. Detached 

 molars of Equus and Bos were also excessively abundant, a 

 sure sign of the den of Hywna spelcea. In short, the con- 

 tents of the cavern bore all the characters of a long; -tenanted 

 HysBna's den. It is the most perfect illustration of the kind 

 that I have seen, either in Gower or elsewhere among 

 British caverns. 



The contents of the chambers communicating with the 

 two apertures were very much alike. When the western 

 opening was laid bare, a fine specimen of the antler of a 

 Reindeer presented itself, partly protruding through the 

 sand, but lying free upon the stalagmite floor. 2 



In the eastern chamber, the entire femur of a young 

 woman, together with the lower jaw of a child of about seven 



1 ' We were much struck by the nar- 

 rowness of a part of the entrance, where 

 predaceous animals, apparently Hysenas 

 (H. spelcea) seem to have been stopped 

 with large portions of the carcasses of 

 Bhinoceros tichorhinus, numbers of the 

 teeth of which, among the other remains, 

 were accumulated close outside it.' — De 

 la Beche, loc. citat. 



2 Extract from Dr. Falconer's Note- 

 book. — 'Major Wood found portion of 



an antler of Reindeer in Tor Hole ; cir- 

 cumference of base 5\ inches. Beam, 

 18 inches long — retaining 44 inches of 

 brow-antler and 2 inches of bez-antler. 

 The base of this horn and brow-antler 

 were embedded in stalagmite, while the 

 upper fractured extremity protruded 

 through the cavern layer of sand, and a 

 considerable portion of the beam was 

 exposed. It was in a highly decomposed 

 state." — [Ed.] 



