ISBH 



THE BONE-CAVE OK flSSURB OF DUEDIIAM DOWN. 



sr 



tooUi wiiH found crushed and fixed between projciitirig points 

 of the rock, a cylindrical bono was split longitudinally, and 

 similar movement in the plane of the fracture had occurred. 

 Several other portions of long bones wore fractured longitu- 

 dinally, and the lamini» of a very largo elepliant's tooth 

 separated; whilst the detached parts in both cases still 

 remained in clear juxtaposition, adhering by thin layers 

 of indurated clay. These appeai'anoes suggested the hypo- 

 thesis of considerable relative movement having taken place 

 in the walls of the fissure and cavern since the deposit of 

 the organic remains, and might have produced the ch)Bing 

 of the orifice, and the consequent high preservation of the 



bones , . . 



" The meeting closed with a discussion, in which Dr. Ililey 

 made some observations on the structure and marks of age 

 exhibited by the teeth of the elephants, and Mr. Austin 

 placed on the table an elaborate plan and sections of the 



(puirry. 



"W. S." 



I have quoted the foregoing notice so fully, because it is 

 the earliest and only detailed account I can find of the dis- 

 covery of the Durdham Down Bone Cave. The description 

 given by Mr. Stutchbury must, I think, bo acknowledged to 

 bo a pliilosophical one, and liis theoretical deductions to be 

 in the main sound. On one or two points we may not now 

 be able entirely to agree with him, and one or two matters 

 1-em.ain which still re(iuire elucidation. 



In the first place it is to be noted that a single fissure only 

 is referred to, altliough a fissure of a complicated character 

 and duplex form. The osseous remains in the Bristol 

 Museum wore mostly labelled " D. D. C. E." or " D. D. C. W.," 

 as if indicating that they wore derived from two distinct 



