1865.'] BtTSK ATfD FALCONER — GIBRALTAR CAVES. 367 



tempers the heat, attracts moisture, and greatly increases the fall of 

 rain. We are aware that Your Excellency's attention has been 

 directed to planting-operations on the " rock." Numerous and re- 

 peated failures must be looked for at the commencement ; but the 

 facts above mentioned would indicate that success may ultimately 

 be attained, with much benefit to the station. 



The next prominent point in the case is the character of the 

 extinct fauna of Gibraltar regarded as a group. Of the prevailing 

 fossil forms which occur in England, Germany, and France, as far 

 south as the northern slope of the Pyrenees and the shores of 

 the Mediterranean, such as the Mammoth, Rhinoceros ticJiorinus, 

 Ursus spelcfius, Ilt/ama spelcea, &c., not a vestige has been detected 

 among the fossil remains of Gibraltar. In the latter the Carnivora 

 are the most significant. The three species of Felis are of African 

 affinities ; and Hyama hrunnea, now for the first time ascertained to 

 have existed formerly in Europe, is at the present day chiefly found 

 near the Cape of Good Hope and Natal. That any of these wild 

 animals could have crossed the straits from Barbary to Europe is 

 contrary to all probability. The obvious inference is that there was 

 a connexion by land, either circuitous or direct, between the two 

 continents, at no very remote period, somewhere within the Medi- 

 terranean area. To arrive at any further evidence bearing upon 

 this very important question, from the rock of Gibraltar, becomes 

 an object of the highest general and scientific interest. 



Human remains were found in great abundance in the upper 

 chambers. They appear to have belonged to between thirty and 

 forty individuals. They were accompanied by stone implements of 

 the polished-stone period, broken querns, a large quantity of pottery, 

 marine shells of edible species, and some other objects enumerated 

 in Capt. Brome's Report. No way of access from the surface by 

 which these materials could have been introduced has been dis- 

 covered ; but, on carefully examining the ground, we believe, with 

 Capt. Brome, that the entrance was somewhere under the southern 

 half of the east wall of the prison-enclosure. Until the aperture 

 from the surface is discovered, no certain conclusion can he arrived 

 at. Considering the time and labour which have been expended on 

 the cavern, it would be a subject of great regret if the exploration 

 were left incomplete on this important point. We would therefore 

 venture strongly to recommend that the excavations be continued 

 through the ground over which the east Avail runs, until the external 

 aperture is detected. We believe that it wiU be found in the fissure 

 outside the east waU, which Capt. Brome has so sagaciously and per- 

 severingly explored. 



The human bones are of high interest in consequence of cer- 

 tain peculiar characters which many of them present. They appear 

 to belong to widely different epochs, although none of them perhaps 

 of very high antiquity (?'. e. before the historical period). That 

 the upper chambers of the cave were ever inhabited by savage 

 man we consider to be highly improbable. It seems more likely 

 that they were used as places of deposit for the dead. 



2 c 2 



