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PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 22, 



The facts recorded by Dr. Moore*, and which I had an opportu- 

 nity of noticing, are of much interest : he distinctly states, what was 

 perfectly clear, that the remains of the several animals (elephant, 

 rhinoceros, deer, bear, &c.) occurred " on the top of the beach, and 

 not in it." These remains also occurred in the limestone breccia (of 

 sub-aerial origin) which filled the fissures, and which in other places 

 overlaid the older marine beds. I do not adopt Dr. Moore's specu- 

 lations as to the spot (the Hoe) having formed an island at low water 

 when the land stood at the level indicated by the marine beds, to 

 which animals may have carried their prey. Had the numerous ani- 

 mals whose remains occur there, lived on the land adjoining such 

 beach, their remains would hardly have occurred solely on the top. 

 The series of changes recorded at Plymouth is just such as has been 

 recorded at other places along the coast : — 1st. A lower series of ma- 

 rine beds. 2nd. A great elevation of the land, when the dry lime- 

 stone ranges became a favourite haunt of numerous animals. 3rd. Its 

 depression to a level rather higher than its former one, when such 

 animal remains as occurred on the surface would become included in 

 the mass of materials rolled about on the beach. The cetacean re- 

 mains belong to the second period of sea-level, those of land animals 

 to an antecedent one. The sea-level and its cliffs, with the older sea- 

 beds, now mostly removed, was much below the position of the loose 

 strata with rolled bones. 



There is another consideration coupled with that of levels which 

 connects the period of the large mammalian fauna of this part of 

 England with that of the higher elevation of this district herein in- 

 dicated . Certain caverns in which the numerous remains of animals 

 have been found, occur at low levels, such as the caves of Yealmpton 

 and Torquay ; the lowest portions of this last present no accumu- 

 lations of stalagmite f ; we find only clay, including and covering clean 

 surfaces of limestone : the animal remains do not extend to the whole 

 thickness of the clay, but occur in the upper portion. Subsequently 

 to the accumulation of the remains, the cave was evidently occupied 

 by water ; and lastly, the thick flooring of stalagmite was formed. 

 At the period of the older sea-level this cave would be occupied by 

 water, when no stalagmite would form ; at that of great elevation, its 

 occupation by animals, as well as the circumstance that a limestone 

 mass so placed would not become overcharged with moisture, would 

 also be unfavourable to its accumulation : in caves in dry situations 

 new stalactite alone forms. The next subsequent sea-level would again 

 fill the cave with water J, and it is only at the levels subsequent to 

 this that the flooring of stalagmite could possibly have formed. 



If we now compare the conditions recorded in the area of the North 

 Sea, subsequently to the accumulation of the beds of the Norwich 



* Rep. of Brit. Assoc. 1841. Proc. Geol. Soc. vol. iii. p. 589. 



f I noticed this fact in a short account of Kent's Cave (Trans. Geol. Soc. vol. vi. 

 p. 444), and I find it confirmed in Mr. M'Enery's account of his researches in the 

 same place. Mr. M'Enery's MSS. have passed into the possession of Mr. Ed. 

 Vivian, by whom a portion has been published. 



X This water would not be derived from the sea, but that which would collect 

 at all inland places at or beneath the sea-level. 



