C0BBESP0NDE2TCE. 



251 



these. Certainly at the present day there are no gaping chasms on the 

 surface of the island, and this may have led to its being commonly said 

 that the gullies are closed at the top. It seems probable that, where the 

 massive Portland rock is capped by slaty stone, the latter may have con- 

 tinued to roof the fissures, and, as a rule, the fissures may not affect the 

 Purbecks ; but I cannot speak on this point from observation. 



In the fissure which I entered I was stopped by a true talus of surface- 

 mould, abounding in Helices and Cyclostomae, with a few splinters of bone. 

 These materials had most evidently been gradually introduced through 

 some orifice in the upper surface by the action of rain. I may have 

 traversed the fissure for about fifty yards. The true bottom was not visible ; 

 for a quantity of loose stones had been cast into it. The part of it where 

 the bones were found is now choked up. I should conclude, from the 

 description which Mr. Maddock gave me, that the bones, in falling from 

 above, lodged upon a ledge of rock ; and probably, if the base of the 

 fissure were reached, mauy more would be found there. 



Among these bones were no human bones. I did not see any such that 

 had been found in the fissures in the Government works, but I saw a sling- 

 stone, formed of Portland flint, which Lieutenant Home assured me he 

 had himself taken from a gully, at a depth of 80 feet from the surface. 

 He also told me that he had once in 

 his possession a brecciated mass of 

 bones, containing among them human 

 bones ; and that it had been found in 

 a gully in making the ditch of the fort, 

 but that it had been stolen. 



The explanation given above of the 

 cause of the formation of the fissures 



is that which commends itself to the $ ^ V -~ 



intelligent persons engaged upon the - / '*'~-~ ~;~ 



Government works, and was suggested ~ ~ ~ "T~ ~ , T „ T ~ ~ 



,1 n , n i Tv/r tt tig- 3. — section of gully, .N . W . side qi 



to me m the nrst place by Mr. Home. ° v % -\\ , 



t 1 • • i j. i /? j_i x j? n Xem Hill, .Portland. 

 I subjoin a sketch of the top ot a gully 



on the north-west side of the Tern Hill, looking north. 



In this case the gully was evidently once open, though now filled with 

 rubble. The beds have sunk about two feet on the east side. 



I remain, Sir, faithfully yours, 



JJlmstead, Colchester, June 17th, 1863. O. Fisher. 



The Portland Ossiferous Fissures. 



Sir, — With reference to Mr. Allen's letter in your number for last 

 month, I beg to say that I do not doubt the truth of his statement, but 

 merely the soundness of the inferences drawn therefrom. I presume he is 

 aware that in what he says about the " deluge " and the bones of extinct 

 animals he is opposed to some of the most advanced geologists of the pre- 

 sent day, in the opinion of whom the idea of a " universal deluge " must 

 be given up, and who also think that the fossil remains of elephants, rhi- 

 noceroses, etc., belonged to species peculiarly adapted to exist in a tem- 

 perate and even a comparatively arctic climate, of which the " Siberian 

 mammoth " and woolly rhinoceros mentioned by Professor Owen, in his 

 ' History of British Fossil Mammalia,' are appropriate examples. Hoping 

 you will excuse my thus trespassing on your valuable space, 



I remain, yours truly, 



Charles Jecks, jun. 



Woodlands, Thorpe, near Norwich, Jane 8, 1863. 



