AND HIS COTEMPOEAKIES. 589 



above which, the ossiferous strata are piled in beds alter- 

 nating with numerous thick layers of stalagmite ; they are 

 in close juxtaposition with a boldly-developed raised sea- 

 beach, first observed and investigated by Mr. Prestwich; 

 and on the high land of Gower, which backs the caves, the 

 same able observer detected remains of Drift deposit, indica- 

 tive of the submergence of the Glacial period. Availing 

 myself of the rich and unrivalled collections formed by my 

 friend Lieut. -Colonel Wood, of Stout Hall, during many years 

 of patient inquiry, and following up their indications, in 

 further researches conjointly with him, I endeavoured to 

 trace the successive appearance of the newer and newer 

 forms, through the magnificent sections furnished by the 

 Gower caves, regarded as a series, until we were conducted 

 to the period when man presented himself as a tenant of the 

 caves. Some of the Gower caverns, such as ' Minchin Hole,' 

 were of an amplitude comparable to that of a cathedral, with 

 an open-vaulted mouth. Below they were strewed with sea- 

 sand and shells, above which ochreous cave-earth, crammed 

 with bones, and layers of stalagmite were disposed in nume- 

 rous successive layers. These alternations implied repeated 

 changes of the physical conditions which held in their 

 interiors, dependent probably on the shocks involved in 

 movements of upheaval or depression, by which long-esta- 

 blished lines of subterraneous drainage were for a time inter- 

 cepted and then reproduced ; the periods of action and repose 

 being respectively indicated by the layers of ochreous loam 

 and stalagmite. Had the coast line in which the caves are 

 chiefly situated ever been submerged, after the osseous 

 remains were introduced, under the sea of the Glacial period, 

 it was impossible that marine deposits should not have been 

 introduced somewhere between these alternations, significant 

 of the event. The cave called ' Bosco's Den,' placed at a 

 higher level, presented an enormous depth of ochreous cave- 

 loam, impacted with horns and bones of the Reindeer, and 

 overlaid at the top by a thick cake of stalagmite, upon the 

 surface of which a bed of peat was accumulated. In no one 

 of these instances was there the slightest indication of Drift 

 or Boulder-clay above the ossiferous strata, ancient or 

 modern. After balancing the various classes of evidence, 

 and instituting a comparison of the Gower caves with those 

 of the other cave districts of England in particular, and of 

 Europe in general, the following conclusions were announced 

 in the memoir above referred to : — 



' 1. That the Gower caves have probably been filled up with their 

 mammalian remains since the deposition of the " Boulder-clay." 



' 2. That there are no mammalian remains found elsewhere in the 



