488 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIEXY. [June 13, 



" Bacon Hole " was first treated of. It has been worked out by 

 Colonel "Wood, and described by Mr. Starling Benson. On the lime- 

 stone-floor of the cave are — (1) a few inches of marine sand, abound- 

 ing with Litorina ruclis, L. litoralis, and Clausilia nigricans, with 

 bones of an Arvicola and Birds ; (2) a thin layer of stalagmite ; 

 (3) 2 feet or less of blackish sand, containing a mass of bones of 

 Elephas antiquus, with remains of Meles taxus and Putorius (vul- 

 garis ?) ; (4) 1 to 2 feet of ochreous cave-earth, limestone-breccia, 

 and sandy layers, with remains of Elephas antiquus, Rhinoceros hemi- 

 tcechus, Hycena, Canis Lupus, Ursus spelceus, Bos, and Cervus; (5) 

 irregular stalagmite, partly enveloping a huge tusk of an Elephant 

 imbedded below it; (6) limestone-breccia and stalagmite, from 1 

 to 2 feet thick, with bones of Ursus and Bos ; (7) irregular bed of 

 stalagmite, 1 foot or more, with Ursus; (8) dark-coloured super- 

 ficial earth, kept soppy by abundant drip, with bones of Bos, Cervus, 

 Canis Vulpes, horns of Reindeer and Roebuck, together with shells 

 of Patella, Mytilus, Purpura, Litorina (probably brought into the 

 cavern as food by birds), and also pieces of ancient British pottery. 

 The marine sand at the bottom of " Bacon Hole " was analogous to 

 that on the rocky floor of the San Giro Cave, near Palermo, but 

 contained fewer species of Mollusca. The uppermost layer of sta- 

 lagmite is about 30 feet above high-water. The Elephant-remains 

 belonged to at least three individuals, one of which was adult, and 

 one young with milk- dentition. 



" Minchin Hole " is the grandest and most spacious of all the 

 Gower Caves, being 170 feet long, by 70 feet where widest, and 

 35 feet high at the entrance ; here the section gave — (1) loose 

 limestone-breccia, 3 feet ; (2) yellow cave- earth, 9 inches ; (3) 

 sand, 1 foot ; (4) blackish sandy loam containing abundant remains 

 of Rhinoceros, Elephas, and Bos, 2| feet ; (5) greyish-yellow ma- 

 rine sand, varying in thickness from 1 to 4 feet, and resting on the 

 rocky floor. Some of the lower jaws of Rhinoceros from this deposit 

 exhibit Litorina} and comminuted shells imbedded in the incrusting 

 matrix ; and the black sand yielded Helix hispida similarly attached. 

 In the interior, the cave-earth was thicker, and the black sandy 

 loam more unctuous. The mammahan remains were closely analo- 

 gous with those from Bacon Hole ; but the Elephant-remains (E. 

 antiquus) were fewer, and those of Rhinoceros hemitcechus were more 

 numerous and better preserved, including two skulls. No remains 

 of Elephas primigenius or of Rhinoceros tichorhinus were met with 

 in Bacon Hole or Minchin Hole. 



" Bosco's Den " is a cavernous fissure, of great interest, between 

 "Bacon Hole" and "Minchin Hole." It is about 70 feet high, 

 and has been worked out by Colonel Wood, who, having succeeded in 

 reaching a hole called (by the quarrymen) " Bacon's Eye," found it to 

 be an angular opening (2| feet in diameter) at the top of one of the 

 great vertical fissures in the limestone, and leading into a fine cavern. 

 Beneath it the fissure was filled up with a mass of angular fragments 

 of limestone (with bones, teeth, and land-shells) impacted in ochreous 

 loam, about 20 feet in height, resting on a solid platform of breccia, 



