572 DE. H. HICKS OlST THE 



The sand and gravel were over the laminated clay, but current- 

 bedded as such so-called ' Middle sands ' often are. Tinally, the 

 Boulder-clay occurred over the sand and gravel, without any 

 evidences of disturbance or rearrangement of any kind. The top 

 of the Boulder-clay formed the surface of a nearly flat field, there 

 being no higher ground near from v^hich debris could have been 

 derived ; and there is no reason for supposing that the surface over 

 the cave was ever deeply covered with clay. The entrance to the 

 cave is in a buried limestone-cliff, from which the Boulder-clay dips, 

 but so gradually that nothing of the nature of a talus is suggested^ 

 especially considering the rapid fall of the ground in the same 

 direction. The Boulder-clay appeared to me as good an example of 

 undisturbed clay as seen anywhere in the Yale of Clwyd, Cheshire, 

 or Lancashire, while the erratics are very similar. As to the age 

 of the clay, it seems to be the Upper Boulder-clay — that is, some o£ 

 the latest deposited during a period of glacial submergence. In the 

 surrounding country there are no evidences of an earlier part of the 

 Glacial period than that of the deposition of the Boulder-clay ; for 

 the occasional striae on the rocks seem to have been caused by ice- 

 bergs and icefields towards the latter end of the submergence, and 

 I have not seen any deposit indicating a period of land-glaciation» 

 Consequently, the Boulder-clay, in my opinion, represents the 

 Glacial period, and if it were considered to be Post-glacial, we 

 should have no glacial deposits whatever in the district. Nothing 

 need be said as to deposits in distant parts of the country, and I 

 am not aware that the mountainous region of jN"orth Wales, with its 

 glacial moraines, throws any light on the subject. 



" The remains of Mammalia found in the bone-earth were evidently 

 deposited in the cave before the deposition of the Boulder-clay, and 

 there are no indications of any Inter-glacial period between it and 

 a still earlier period of supposed land-glaciation. The broken up 

 stalagmite associated with the bone-earth seems to prove that the 

 latter was an ancient deposit before the glacial subsidence. In this 

 western portion of Britain no traces of the Hyaena, Lion, Elephant, 

 and Eeindeer have been found in any Post-glacial deposit, and the 

 inference is that all the bone-caves, on both sides of the Yale of 

 Clwyd, are Pre-glacial, though the drift about them has been for the 

 most part denuded in Post-glacial times, and many of them invaded 

 by animals still living or not long extinct in the country." 



It has been supposed that the cavern may extend for some 

 distance in a north-east direction under the overhanging ledge of 

 rock ; but it appeared clear to me that that extension was rather a, 

 rock-shelter than a cavern, as it is only a narrow space, between 

 three and four feet in height, containing loose blocks of limestone 

 in the bone-earth, but luitJi no roclc-wall on the outside. There was 

 a narrow fissure, about six inches across, by the side of the rock-face > 

 but this was found to be a continuation of the joint in the limestone 

 which we had noticed in the floor in front of the entrance, and it 

 did not indicate any prolongation of the cavern in that direction 

 (see Plan, flg. 4). As Mr. Morgan and Mr. De Eance were the last 



