1872.] 



the Exploration of Brixham Cave. 



521 



forms or species, viz. U. spelceus, V.ferox fossilis* (U. priscus, Goldf.), 

 and V. arctos, or the existing European and Asiatic Brown Bear : but the 

 evidence tending to show this would demand more space than can be given 

 to this abstract. 



14. Strange to say, the genus Canis is represented only by the Fox, 

 no trace of the Wolf having occurred in the entire collection ; and of the 

 Fox not more than seven specimens were met with, five of which occurred 

 in the Reindeer Gallery, and all but one on or near the surface : but in 

 no other respect is there the slightest difference in the characters of the 

 bones and teeth. 



15-20. Innumerable bones of the Hare and Rabbit, of different sizes 

 and of all ages, occurred in the Reindeer and Flint-knife Galleries, and for 

 the most part on or near the surface of the third bed, or in the stalagmite 

 floor. The only marked exceptions to this are in " find " No. 92, which 

 affords the tibia of a young Hare, found at a depth of three feet in the 

 Reindeer Gallery. 



The most interesting of all the rodent remains, however, is a fragment 

 of the skull, including, fortunately, the entire maxilla, with all the teeth 

 but one of Lagomys spe/ceus. It was found, together with numerous bones of 

 the Polecat, Hare, Rabbit, Water-Rat, Shrew, &c, in the Reindeer Gallery, 

 110 feet from the Dyer's Entrance, lying on the surface of the second bed. 

 It differs in no respect, as regards condition or appearance, from the other 

 bones with which it was associated, and, like most of them, is very 

 slightly dendritic. 



Traces of Man. — Not a single human bone has been found in Brixham 

 Cave ; but thirty-six rude flint implements and clips, referable in great 

 part, or wholly, to man's workmanship, were met with in different parts of 

 the cave ; of these, sixteen were found in the bed of shingle, at depths in 

 it of from 6 inches to 12 feet, or, including the overlying beds, of 

 from 6 to 18 feet from the surface of the cave-floor. Seventeen were 

 found in the Reindeer Gallery, five in the Flint-knife Gallery, eleven in 

 the West Chamber, and three in other parts. In fourteen instances their 

 infraposition to bones of the Mammoth, Rhinoceros, Hyaena, Tiger, Bear, 

 Reindeer, Red Deer, Horse, and Ox is perfectly well proved, as many as 

 120 of such bones having been discovered higher in the cave-earth over 

 where these flints were found. One specimen in particular deserves notice ; 

 it is a roughly shaped flint hatchet, broken in two, but the two halves not 

 worn, and their jagged edges fitting perfectly. These two parts were found 

 buried in the cave-earth in distant parts of the cave, and it was not until 

 some time after their discovery that Dr. Falconer detected their relation. 



The report then proceeds to discuss the origin of the cave, and the mode 

 in which its contents were accumulated, considering this to be a typical 

 case for a large number of ossiferous caves. 



* It was the specimens from this cave that first led Mr. Busk to recognize this northern 

 American species amongst the ossiferous cave-fauna of Europe. 



