BONE-CAVES IN NORTH WALES. 17 



have to be cleared out to a definite level and then occupied for a 

 prolonged period by Hyaenas. It is clear that during the whole of 

 the period of occupation there were no great influxes of water, and 

 moreover, that there was a further period during which the stalag- 

 mite was formed. From some unexplained cause, after this long 

 time of rest and presumably after the valley had been much further 

 deepened by gradual excavation, the caverns were subject to great 

 influxes of water sufficiently violent to break up the thick stalag- 

 mite floor, to mix up and force the materials into the inner 

 recesses and to completely fill up all parts of the caverns, Tf this 

 water was merely the result of ordinary subaerial influences, it 

 seems impossible to conceive that the upper cavern could be invaded 

 by it at the same time as the lower ; and yet it had the efl'ect either 

 of preventing the caverns being occupied afterwards by the Hyaenas, 

 or it was sufficiently powerful to drive them away from the area. 

 Submergence would do this, but hardly so any tem[)orary local 

 causes. 



Note on tlie Animal Eemains. By W. Davies, Esq., P.G.5?., of the 

 British Museum (Natural History). 



The animal remains found in both caves comprise teeth and bones 

 of 11 genera and 16 species, as shown by the annexed list : — 



Lion (Fells leo, var. spelcsa). I Bovine (Bos ? Bison ?). 



Wild Cat (F. catus ferus). Great Irish Deer (Cervus giganfeus). 



Spotted Hyaena (H. crocuta, var. spe- | Eecl Deer ( Cervus elaplius). 



' Eoebuck ((7. ca^reoks). 



Wolf {Canis lupus). 

 Fox ( C. vulpes). 

 Bear ( JJrstis, sp.). 

 Badger (Meles taxus). 

 Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) 



Eemcleer(C tarandus). 



Horse (Equus caballus). 



Woolly Ehinoceros (B. tichorhinus). 



Mammoth (Elephas primigenms). 



Of the animals here enumerated, three are extinct, viz. the Irish 

 Deer, Woolly Ehinoceros, and the Mammoth. The Spelaean Lion 

 and Hj-aena were considered by Goldfuss and the older naturalists 

 to be also extinct species ; but later investigations show that their 

 remains are undistinguishable from bones and teeth of the existing 

 Lion * and the Spotted Hyaena t respectively. Other species now 

 extinct in Britain are the Wolf, Bear, Wild Boar, and Eeindeer, also 

 the Wild Ox or Bison. 



With regard to numbers, the teeth and bones of the Horse, Rhi- 

 noceros, Hyaena, and Eeindeer are respectively the most numerous 

 in the order here presented. That the Hyaenas for a long period 

 had entire possession of the caves is i)roved by the paucity of the 

 remains of the Bear, another cave-haunting animal, thus showing that 

 there had been no joint or alternate occupation by these animals as 

 in some recorded instances. 



* Sanford and Dawkins, " Pleistocene Mammalia," Men. Pal. Soc. 1806, 

 pp. 1^. 



t Dawkins, Nat. Hist. Eev. 1865, p. 95. 



Q.J.G.S. No. 165. c 



