Vol. 50.] THE OSSIFEROUS FISSURES NEAR 1GHTHAM. 



179 



thick. Occasionally the stalagmites were crystalline. There was 

 also a beautiful variety of arragonite, whiter and finer than the 

 finest cotton-wool. The third inset, made by the quarrymen, 

 that I saw, was about 80 j*ards from the present representative of 

 the old stream, and showed the height of the fissure to be rapidly 

 diminishing, and the top bonding down in an arch, so that the two 

 sides met the top in an angle, and the arragonite chamber formed a 

 cul-de-sac. The deposition of fiocculent lime extended 5 or 6 feet 



Fig. 5. — Generalized vertical section along fissure b. 







[The dotted line shows the present face of the quarry.] 



into the underlying fissure-material, from which it appeared that the 

 meteoric waters, which entered the chamber above, acted upon the 

 fissure-earth, dissolved out the lime from both rock and bones, and 

 redeposited it : the occurrence of bones increasing as the secondary 

 deposition decreased. Owing to the decrease in the height of the 

 fissure, this deposit quite sealed down all that was below it. Below 

 this, towards the back, the fissure-material d (fig. 5) was more 



