OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF GOWER. 529 



along with Elephas antiquus, Rhinoceros hemitcechus, Hycena 

 spelcea, &c. in the cave loam at the lower part of the section, 

 and also at a low level in ' Eaven's Cliff.' No bone of 

 Bos (Ursus) primigenius was satisfactorily identified; but the 

 comparison of the large Bovine remains has not yet been 

 sufficiently carried out to warrant any definite statement on 

 the point. Molar teeth referable to the Irish Elk (Gervus 

 eurycerus) were exhumed from ' Spritsail-Tor ' ; and antlers, 

 together with crania from which the horns had been shed, 

 of Reindeer, from the same cave and Paviland. Horns of 

 Gervus Elaphus and G. Gapreolus were encountered in the 

 superficial earth covering the floor of ' Bacon Hole.' Some 

 of them bore distinct marks of having been chopped rudely, 

 or partially cut. 



Remains of Arvicola amphibius were met with in great 

 abundance, in ' Spritsail-Tor,' ' Bosco's Den,' and ' Bacon 

 Hole ; ' in the last at the very bottom of the floor deposits. 

 Detached incisors and molar teeth are seen attached to a 

 specimen comprising the radius and ulna of Rhinoceros hemi- 

 toechus from the lower deposits of Raven's Cliff, and encrusted 

 with the original matrix. Doubts have been raised whether 

 the presence of Arvicola amphibius along with extinct animals 

 in the caves might not be explained by the known burrowing 

 habits of the species. But the specimen in question clearly 

 indicates that it was a cotemporary of the Rhinoceros. 



16. Geological Age of the Cower Caves. 



In the spring of 1858, on my first visit to Gower, I was 

 struck with the significance of the fact, that marine sands 

 containing common existing shells lay at the bottom of the 

 ossiferous deposits in ' Bacon Hole ' and ' Minchin Hole,' 

 tending, so far as the limited evidence went, to assign a very 

 modern date in the Pliocene period, for their emergence 

 above the sea and subsequent filling up. On the other hand, 

 when I came to examine in detail the fossil bones, I was 

 equally struck with the fact that the remains of Elephas anti- 

 quus and Rhinoceros hemitoschus, the latter especially, were 

 very abundant in both caverns ; while not a single bone re- 

 ferable to E. primigenius or R. tichorhinus could I detect in 

 either. The Gower species of Rhinoceros (R. hemito3chus) was 

 then new to me ; but I found it associated with an Elephant, 

 which I had hitherto regarded as a characteristic form of 

 the ' Elephant-bed ' that underlies the ' Boulder-clay ' on 

 the Norwich coast, of the Sub-Apennine beds of the Astesan, 

 of the * Mud-bed ' of Bracklesham Bay, and of ' Grays Thur- 

 rock.' Here then were two lines of seemingly antagonistic 

 evidence : the marine sands and their contained shells, indi- 



VOL. II. M M 



