Vol. 59.] PLIOCENE CAVERN AT DOVEHOLES. 109 



III. The Conditions oe the Discovery. 



The cave (A of figs. 1-4) was discovered in the beginning of 

 1901, in the working of the quarry, and was fully exposed in the 

 course of 1902. It was about 90 feet long, 15 feet high, and 4 feet 

 broad at its northern end, descending slightly to the south as it con- 

 tracted to a dead end (figs. 3 & 4, p. 110). It consisted of a large 

 chamber and a small passage, both being eroded, as is usually the 

 case, in a master-joint, traversing the quarry from top to bottom 

 in a direction north 16° west. Its continuation to the north is 

 obscured by a mass (B) of broken and acid-worn rock embedded in 

 clay, which is at present slipping over the Carboniferous grey clay 

 b (of fig. 3). In consequence of this a swallow-hole, c (of figs. 1, 

 2, & 3), has recently been exposed, measuring about 12 feet across, 

 and filled with yellow loamy clay. It is probable that this will 

 ultimately be proved to be connected with the cave, as the broken 

 rock and clay are removed, although it is to the east of the line of 

 the master-joint ruling the direction of the cave. 



A photograph of the debris is reproduced in fig. 9, p. 124. The 

 position of the cave in the eastern face of the quarry is shown in 

 fig. 3, p. 110. The following strata occur here : — 



Thickness in feet, 

 d. Grey limestone, in which the cave is hollowed ... 30 



c. Grey limestone, forming the floor of the cave 9 



b. Slate-coloured clay, with pyrite 9 



a. Grey limestone (?) 



These rocks dip southward and westward. In the plan (fig. 4, 

 p. 110) the winding of the cave along the line of the master-joint is 

 worthy of notice. 



The cave was filled with an horizontally stratified, yellowish-reel 

 clay, containing angular and rolled pebbles of limestone and a few 

 pebbles of the sandstones of the Millstone-Grit and Yoredale Series. 

 There were also pebbles of white vein-quartz, quartzite, and a 

 brittle variety of elaterite. It contained, moreover, grains of sand 

 and flakes of mica. Here and there, scattered irregularly through 

 the mass, were mammalian bones and teeth, some rolled and in the 

 condition of pebbles, others unworn and with sharp fractures ; most 

 are stained black and are highly mineralized, while others are 

 stained red, and are not more mineralized than the remains usually 

 found in Pleistocene caverns. Their general mineral condition 

 bears a striking resemblance to that of the fossil mammals found 

 in the Ked and the Norwich Crags. 



There can be little doubt that the contents of the cave have been 

 introduced by water. In fig. 5 (p. Ill) a section is given of the 

 southern passage, narrowing towards its end, and only 2 feet across. 

 It was completely filled with loamy red and yellow clay, horizontally 

 stratified, and containing pebbles of limestone, Yoredale and Mill- 

 stone-Grit sandstones, and bones and teeth, some in the condition 

 of pebbles. Among the mammalian remains found in this place, 

 the teeth of Mastodon and horse, and the metatarsals of deer may 



