DRIFTS OF THE VALE OF CLWYD. 



117 



could be made out in the drift of this area. Prof. Hughes's Clwydian 

 or St. Asaph Drift must certainly be considered the newest, as it is 

 mainly remanie. It is situated at a low level between the im- 

 portant rivers Elwy and Clwyd. The high-level drift at Cae Gwyn 

 is a true undisturbed glacial deposit full of ice-scratched boulders, 

 aud may be correlated with the deposits mentioned by Mr. Strahan, 

 in his Geological Survey Memoir, as occurring at so many points 

 at a high level in this area. The palaeontological evidence shows 

 that the caverns contained a large proportion of the animals found 

 in the Norfolk Forest-bed, which Prof. Hughes admits to be pre- 

 glacial. The absence of other forms would only show that they 

 had probably not migrated into this area, hence this cannot be relied 

 upon as evidence of difference in age. 



Dr. Hicks was perfectly convinced by the evidence found during 

 the explorations that the caverns of Pfynnon Beuno and Cae Gwyn 

 (the other caverns referred to by Prof. Hughes are nearer the 

 great rivers and at a much lower level, therefore the evidence ob- 

 tained from them is of much less value) must have been occupied 

 by man and the animals before the climax of the ice age. Also 

 that the thick stalagmite was formed during the ice age, that this 

 was broken up by marine action during the submergence, and that 

 the caverns were afterwards completely covered over by materials 

 deposited from floating ice. The mammalian remains and the im- 

 plements, he therefore maintained, must be considered as of pre- 

 glacial age. 



Dr. J. Evaxs spoke on the difficulty of reconciling the views of 

 the two geologists who had spoken ; perhaps both were right in part. 

 He pointed out that a valley must have been cut when the upper end 

 of the Cae Gw3 r n cavern was opened. In a case in Norfolk of sup- 

 posed preglacial implements, the Boulder-clay beneath which they 

 were found proved to be a remanie deposit. 



If the cave were preglacial, either the glacial age in Wales was 

 distinct from that in the east of England, or Man went away and 

 returned again. The implement from Cae Gwyn resembles those 

 of the upper deposits of Kent's Cavern. Now some of the imple- 

 ments in the east of England are made of stones brought into the 

 district by ice of the glacial period. "We have also evidence that 

 Plas Newydd cave is postglacial. It is improbable that similar 

 implements are preglacial in Wales and postglacial in the south of 

 England. 



Prof. Boyd Dawklxs said that he had examined much of the 

 drifts of Wales and Lancashire, and doubted if those of the Yale of 

 Clwyd could be distinguished from each other as clearly as Prof. 

 Hughes contended. The interest attaching to the cave depends on the 

 light which it throws on the relation of Palaeolithic man to the 

 Glacial period. * After examining the fresh section he felt obliged 

 to accept Dr. Hicks's evidence. The drift above the place where 

 the implement was found was, in his opinion, not remanie, but in 

 situ. The fact that Pala3olithic implements occurred in Postglacial 



