Dr J. W. Dawson on the Antiquity of Man. 51 



near the sea at Brixham was made accidentally, by the roof 

 of one of them falling in. None of the five external open- 

 ings now exposed to view in steep cliffs or the sloping side 

 of a valley, were visible before the breccia and earthy 

 matter which blocked them up were removed during the 

 late exploration. According to a ground-plan drawn up 

 by Professor Eamsay, it appears that some of the passages 

 which run nearly north and south are fissures connected 

 with the vertical dislocation of the rocks, while another set, 

 running nearly east and west, are tunnels, which have the 

 appearance of having been to a great extent hollowed out 

 by the action of running water. The central or main 

 entrance, leading to what is called the Keindeer gallery, 

 because a perfect antler of that animal was found sticking 

 in the stalagmitic floor, is 95 feet above the level of the 

 sea, being also about 60 above the bottom of the adjoining 

 valley. The united length of the five galleries which were 

 cleared out amounted to several hundred feet. Their width 

 never exceeded 8 feet. They were sometimes filled up to 

 the roof with gravel, bones, and mud ; but occasionally 

 there was a considerable space between the roof and floor. 

 The latter, in the case of the fissure-caves, was covered 

 with stalagmite, but in the tunnels it was usually free from 

 any such incrustation. The following was the general 

 succession of the deposits forming the contents of the under- 

 ground passages and channels : — 



" 1st, At the top, a layer of stalagmite, varying in thick- 

 ness from 1 to 15 inches, which sometimes contained bones, 

 such as the reindeer s horn, already mentioned, and an entire 

 humerus of the cave-bear. 



" 2dly, Next below, loam or bone-earth, of an ochreous- 

 red colour, from 1 foot to 15 feet in thickness. 



" ?>dly, At the bottom of all, gravel with many rounded 

 pebbles in it, probed in some places to the depth of 20 feet 

 without being pierced through, and, as it was barren of 

 fossils, left for the most part unremoved.- 



" The mammalia obtained from the bone-earth consisted 

 of ElepJias primtgenius, or mammoth ; Bliinoceros tichor- 

 Mnus ; Ursus spelceus ; Hycena spelcea ; Felis spelcea, or 

 the cave-lion ; Cervus tarandus^ or the reindeer ; a species 



