Vol. 54.] ANNIVERSAET ADBRESS OF THE PEESIDENT. IxXXV 



must have been carried into the cavern by the water which broke 

 up the stalagmite-floor, and which disturbed the bones and the 

 other materials previously in the cavern. In regard to the lowest 

 deposit in this cavern, it is clear that it formed the floor of the den, 

 and it consists entirely of such local material as would be left by a 

 stream or flood-water when the cavern was being formed. In this 

 there was not a fragment of any foreign material such as is now 

 abundant in the field above, on the slopes of the valley, and about 

 the entrance of the cavern. The time of occupation was, therefore, 

 certainly before any of these foreign materials could have reached 

 this area. The Eev. G. C. H. Pollen, of St. Beuno's College, recently 

 re-examined some of the lowest deposits which we had left undis- 

 turbed in the cavern. In his paper read before the Society in 

 December last, he gives a section of these deposits, and says that he 

 also failed to detect anything but local materials in them. The 

 great importance of the evidence from this cavern is the undoubted 

 fact that not a fragment of anything that could be called foreign 

 material occurred anywhere under the stalagmite-floor, contrasted 

 with its occurrence in the newer and overlying deposits, and every- 

 where in the neighbourhood of the cave. 



The stages indicated in this cavern are the following : — 



1. After the formation of the cavern, the deposition in it of some 

 gravel by flood-water when the entrance was nearly on a level 

 with the then floor of the valley. 



2. As the valley deepened, and the cavern was above the level of 

 the floods, it was occupied as a den by hyaenas and occasionally 

 by man. There was at first but little snow or ice on the 

 neighbouring mountains ; but gradually the cold increased, 

 and the hyaenas left the higher caverns. 



3. This, and other high-level caverns, became now buried under 

 snow, and the conditions were favourable to the formation of 

 stalagmite over the floor because of the moist condition and 

 drip in the cavern. 



4. The local glaciers next brought down much material into the 

 valley, and flood-waters re-entered the cavern, breaking up the 

 stalagmite-floor, and carrying in local drift. The floor towards 

 the entrance, being in part protected by limestone-fragments 

 and drift, remained generally intact; but in all the inner 

 recesses there was evidence of rather violent water-action. 

 Here bones, large fragments of the stalagmite-floor, and the 

 drift were mixed up together. The inner tunnels were com- 



