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OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF GIBRALTAR. 



XXII. ON THE FOSSIL CONTENTS OF THE 

 GENISTA CAVE, GIBEALTAE. 



BY HUGH FALCONER, M.D., T.P.R.S., FOR. SEC. G.S., AND G. BUSK, ESQ., 



F.R.S., F.G.S. 



[Iii a Letter to His Excellency General Sir W. J. Codrington, K.C.B., &c. &c. 



Governor of Gibraltar.] 1 



The circumstances which led to our visit to Gibraltar, and 

 the objects we have had in view, are so well known to your 

 Excellency that it is unnecessary on our part to do more 

 than refer to one or two incidents in the early history of the 

 cave. 



When the interesting objects contained in the upper 

 chambers of the ' Genista Cave ' on Windmill Hill were 

 brought to light by Capt. Brome, your Excellency addressed 

 a letter to the Secretary-at-War, giving a preliminary report 

 on the results ; that communication was forwarded from the 

 War Office to the President of the Geological Society of 

 London, with a request for an opinion as to the importance 

 in the interest of science of following up the exploration, 

 and for suggestions as to the manner in which it could be 

 best conducted. The reply led to the sanction of the Secre- 

 tary-at-War for the further exploration of the cavern by 

 means of the labour of the military prisoners, under the able 

 superintendence of Capt. Brome ; and, to pass over minor 

 incidents well known to your Excellency, the objects dis- 

 covered were forwarded to us in London for identification 

 and scientific examination. 



Having devoted several months to the study of the cave- 

 collections successively transmitted to us, which were so 

 carefully classified, by means of distinctive marks, by Capt. 

 Brome, the Governor of the Military Prison, as to place the 

 main facts clearly before us, we were so strongly impressed 

 with their importance that we determined, on your Excel- 



1 This letter, written at Gibraltar in 

 October 1864, was communicated by 

 the Secretary of State for War to the 

 Geological Society after Dr. Falconer's 

 death, and was published in the ' Quar- 

 terly Journal of the Geological Society,' 

 for March 1865. In September 1864, the 



British Association placed 150^. at the 

 disposal of Dr. Falconer and Mr. Busk, 

 for the purpose of promoting researches 

 in the ossiferous caves of Gibraltar, and 

 up to the time of his death Dr. Falconer 

 was busily engaged in identifying the 

 fossils which were sent home. — [Ed.] 



