OSSIFEROUS CAVES OP GOWER. 



537 



the Littorina litorea abounds ; there are a few Purpura lapillus, and 

 fragments of Mytilus ; also pebbles of limestone drilled by boring shells. 

 The whole, which is 3 to 4 feet thick, is agglutinated into a semi- 

 compact mass, and is overlaid by a remarkable mass of angular debris, 

 from 20 to 30 feet thick in some places. The beach goes back only a 

 few feet, as the limestone hill rises immediately behind. Coastways 

 the raised beach continues almost uninterruptedly, but diminishing in 

 importance, for half a mile westward, ending before reaching Tears 

 Point. Its level is persistent throughout. The sketch I gave you 

 at the time (fig. 4) is, I believe, nearly correct, and at present I do not 

 think I could improve upon it, not having made sufficiently full notes. 



Taking this in connection with the well known raised beach at the 

 Mumbles, I think it may have an important bearing, in conjunction 

 with your discoveries in those Bone Caves in Gower, which are 

 situated on the coast between these two points. They are evidently on 



Fig. 4. 



RAISED BEACH AND OLD CLIFF NEAR MEWSLADE, GOWER, S. WALES. 



a. Unstratified angular limestone debris, in a matrix of red sand and clay, 21 to 27 

 feet. b. Red sand and clay without shells, 4 to 5 feet. c. Rolled shingle with 

 shells in places, 3 to 4 feet. d. Limestone rock. e. Level of present beach. 



about the same level, and you have found in them sand and sea-shells 

 under all the bone remains. Should it prove, therefore, that the caves 

 are of this Eaised Beach period, and that the Elephant and other remains 

 have been subsequently introduced, we shall arrive at the interesting 

 and curious conclusion that this particular group of mammalia lived 

 after the formation of those beaches — beaches which have always been 

 considered as of very recent origin, as they contain nothing, so far as 

 they have been examined, but the commonest shells of our coasts. At 

 the same time, it is to be observed that they contain but very few 

 species, and that no complete and thorough investigation of them has 

 been yet made. With regard to your suggestion in connection with 

 the two species of Elephant, I must confess that I saw nothing in the 

 physical features of the scene, during the somewhat hurried and im- 

 perfect view I had of it, to lead me to suppose that the caves, or rather 

 their inhabitants, might be referred to two periods. I should hardly 

 have hazarded this opinion, without a further examination of the 

 district ; but I give it for what it is worth, and waiting further data. 



