534 OSSIFEKOUS CAVES OF GOWEE. 



17. Comparison of the Gower Cave Fauna with that op 

 other Cave Districts in England. 



Assuming, as a position, that the Gower caves are of a 

 comparatively late date, it may next be inquired : are there 

 any proofs, in any of the other caves in Britain, of a Mam- 

 malian Fauna of an older date ? The full discussion of 

 this subject, involving numerous comparisons, would extend 

 far beyond the limits within which this communication is 

 restricted, and I must deal with it very briefly. Some of the 

 species are nearly constant in all the caves, both in England 

 and Germany, such as TJrsus spelceus, Hycena spelcea, and 

 Felis spelcea ; and these are commonly associated with Elephas 

 primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Bos primigenius, Bos 

 (Bison) prisons, and large species of Cervus, such as G. 

 eurycerus (the Irish Elk). But in some of the caverns 

 the latter series is supplanted by E. antiquus, Rhinoceros 

 hemitoechus, and Hippopotamus major. The most remark- 

 able case running parallel with ' Bacon Hole ' and ' Minchin 

 ' Hole,' with which I am acquainted, is the cavernous fissure 

 of Durdham Down, described by Mr. Stutchbury. I have 

 carefully examined the collection preserved in the Bristol 

 Museum, and distinguished 15 molars of all ages of H. major, 

 besides an incisor canine and calcaneum. These were asso- 

 ciated with a series of upper molar teeth of R. hemitoechus, 

 and with molars of E. antiquus, together with remains of 

 TJrsus spel&us, TJrsus arctoides (?), and Hyama speloza. In the 

 Mendip caves (Ban well, Hutton, Uphill, Bleadon, Berring- 

 ton, &c), B. primigenius and R. tichorhinus are common, 

 together with Felis spel&a, Hyoena spelaia, &c. E. antiquus 

 is rarer, and I did not observe a single specimen referable to 

 R. hemitoechus. I detected in the Rev. D. Williams' collec- 

 tion, in the Taunton Museum, two lower jaws of a species of 

 Spermophilus (tailless Marmot), from some one of the Mendip 

 caves, new to the fossil Fauna of England. 1 In the collec- 

 tions formed by McEnery, from Kent's Hole, E. primigenius 

 and R. tichorhinus are very common, while E. antiquus and 

 R. hemitoechus appear to be wanting. The most remarkable 

 peculiarity of the Kent's Hole series is the presence of a 

 species of Machairodus, which has nowhere else been found 

 in England. The Bagomys of Kent's Hole has lately turned 

 up in the Brixham Cave. Of the Kirkdale specimen the 

 young Elephant's molar, represented in fig. 1 of PI. VII. of 

 the 'Reliquiae Diluvianae,' belongs to E. antiquus, and fig. 3 of 

 the same plate to R. hemitoechus. I have examined the original 



1 See antea, p. 452. — [Ed.] 



