110 



PROF. T. m'kEISTNY HUGHES ON THE 



must be referred to an age subsequent to the emergence; but how much 

 later there is nothing save the pakeontologieal evidence to show. 



There has been no glacial action in the vale since the age of the 

 emergence, when the Talargoch gravels were formed, nothing but 

 the denudation by rivers and, on the higher slopes, by rain and sub- 

 aerial degradation. And even if we must assign the palaeolithic 

 remains in the cave to the age of the deposit that blocks the mouth, 

 there is no reason why there should not be bones in a cave of the 

 age of the submergence. On the contrary, there is a great deal of 

 evidence of more or less value pointing to the occurrence of bones 

 in these and similar marine-drifts. (See Hughes, Proc. Soc. Nat. 

 Sci. Chester, pt. 3, p. 31 ; Strahan, Mem. Geol. Surv. Expl. Quart. 

 Sheet 79, N.W. p. 33. In the Hessle and Kelsea Beds, see Phillips 

 and Prestwich and other references given below). There is often a 

 difficulty in making out what the beds are from which bones have 

 been recorded (e. q. Tindall, ' Geologist,' vol. i. 1858, p. 493, vol. iii. 

 1860, p. 119 ; Geol. Mag. vol. i. 1864, p. 142. In S. Stafford- 

 shire, Jukes's ' S. Staffordshire Coal-field,' 1859, p. 207; in beds 

 in which were also sea-shells, see Lister, op. cit. p. 162). And 

 if the drift that finally closed the mouth of the cave and overlapped 

 the bones outside it is only the run-of-the-hill, we must remember 

 that it is nothing new or unexpected that rainwash and limestone 

 talus should contain the remains of palaeolithic man and other 

 animals. On the slopes of Mont Saleve, south of Geneva, flint 

 flakes were found in abundance in such talus, associated with bones 

 of reindeer, &c. 



But if ever we come upon Preglacial caves we may expect Pliocene 

 animals ; and if we find caves belonging to an age anterior to the 

 great submergence, it is probable that the animals whose remains 

 are found in them will belong to an older group than those found 

 in deposits later than the submergence. 



We have not, however, an older group in the Ffynnon Beuno 

 cave. We find there the animals of the newer postglacial gravels 

 of the south and east of England. We have E. primigenius not 

 E. antiquus, R. tichorhinus not R. megarhinus, 0. tarandus and 

 C. megaceros not 0. verticomis and C. Sedgwiclcii. 



The list drawn up by Mr. Davies * is as follows : — 



Felis leo, var. spelsea. 



F. catus ferus. 



Hysena crocuta, var. spelaga. 



Canis lupus. 



C. vulpes. 



Ursus, sp. 



Meles taxus. 



Sua scrofa. 



Bos or Bison. 

 Cervus giganteus. 

 C. elaphus. 

 C. capreolus. 

 C. tarandus. 

 Equus caballus. 

 Rhinoceros tichorhinus. 

 Elephas primigenius. 



(See: — Dawkins, 'Cave Hunting,' 'Early Man in Britain,' 1880, 

 * Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xlii. (1886) p. 17. 



