514 



Abstract of Mr. J. PrestwicVs Report on [June 20, 



XXII. " Report on the Exploration of Brixham Cave, conducted by a 

 Committee of the Geological Society, and under the immediate 

 superintendence and record of Wm. Pexgelly, Esq., F.R.S., 

 aided by a local Committee ; with descriptions of the Organic 

 Remains by G. Busk, Esq., F.R.S., and of the Flint Imple- 

 ments by Johx Evans, Esq., F.R.S." By J. Prestwich, F.R.S., 

 F.G.S., &c. 3 Reporter. Received May 16, 1872. 



(Abstract.) 



This Cave, or rather series of enlarged fissures in the Devonian Lime- 

 stone, was discovered in January 1858 whilst quarrying the rock on the 

 slope of the hill which rises above the small fishing town of Brixham, 

 near Torquay. The owner of the quarry had the excavation carried 

 sufficiently far to show that the cave had several branches, and contained 

 bones both on the surface of the stalagmite and in the red loam beneath 

 it. Mr. Pengelly visited the cave soon after its discovery, and, believing 

 it likely to prove of much interest, opened negotiations with the pro- 

 prietor, with a view to secure the right of exploration. There were, 

 however, obstacles which then prevented this object being carried into 

 execution. Shortly afterwards the late Dr. Falconer, while on a visit to 

 Torquay, was informed of the discovery, and, after a careful inspection of 

 the cave, he was so impressed with the opportunity here afforded of 

 working out completely a new and untouched bone- cavern, that on his 

 return to London he addressed a letter to the Council of the Geological 

 Society, in which, after referring to the early researches on ossiferous 

 caves by Dr. Buckland, and the little progress the subject had made since 

 that period, notwithstanding its great interest on so many grounds, he urged 

 the importance of a thorough exploration of such a cave, and suggested 

 that this was a case Cf deserving of a combined effort among geologists to 

 organize operations for having it satisfactorily explored before mischief was 

 done by untutored zeal and desultory work." 



Dr. Falconer further stated that, " from what he had already seen of the 

 cave, he was strongly of the conviction that, with our present advanced 

 knowledge, the thorough investigation of a well-filled virgin cave in 

 England would materially aid in clearing up the mystery, either of the 

 contemporaneity of the Pliocene Mammalian Fauna with the commence- 

 ment of the Postpliocene Fauna, or of the conditions and associations 

 under which the former was replaced by the latter." 



The Council of the Geological Society, not having at their disposal 

 funds for undertaking such a work, addressed a letter to the President and 

 Council of the Royal Society, by whom a grant of s6100 was promptly 

 made from the Donation Fund, on the understanding that any specimens 

 obtained should be eventually deposited in the British Museum. This 

 sum was afterwards increased by the liberal donation of £50 from Lady 



