BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEETING. 



459 



It is attempted in Fig. 4 to represent the condition of the dike during the 

 eriod I have mentioned ; the figure is supposed not to show its entire height, 

 ut the lower portion only, and the mass of limestone, u w, must be understood 

 to conceal about three feet of its southern end. 



Soon after the workmen recommenced their labours in the quarry last March, 

 the removal of this remnant of the outer wall caused the fall of an unce- 

 mented portion of the dike which it had previously supported ; loose stones, 

 earth, and bones came down together, and thus compelled attention. An invi- 

 tation of this kind could not be resisted ; the principal workman collected 

 the bones, and in a short time found he had got together a considerable number, 

 probably several hundred, consisting of teeth, jaws, skulls, vertebrae, portions 

 of horns, with a large quantity of unidentifiable bone-debris. 



Should it be asked — Is it certainly known that that which has been called a 

 dike was really one ? Instead of a thin slice of bone-breccia filling a narrow 

 slit in a limestone hill, may it not have been a remnant of a much more consi- 

 derable accumulation, which once occupied a large chamber or cavern, all but 

 entirely destroyed by the workmen during their former workings ? It may be 

 answered, that workmen, however incurious and uninformed, could scarcely, by 

 any possibility, fail to discover that they had broken into a bone cavern, espe- 

 cially in the very neighbourhood of the famous " Ash Hole," and within a very 

 few miles of the more celebrated " Kent's Hole," both of which had about 

 that time attracted much attention, and had taught quarrymen that cave-bones 

 were convertible into gold ; whereas a mere fissure would be very likely to pass 

 unnoticed, or, at most, with but little remark, since they are extremely nume- 

 rous, and constantly met with by the workmen. Moreover, as has been already 

 said, a portion — about one-fourth — of the outer wall of the fissure was still 

 standing in situ when the workmen resumed their labours last March. Further, 

 the exposed surface of the breccia itself gave conclusive evidence on the ques- 

 tion ; it is so perfectly wall-like that it is difficult, if not impossible, to believe 

 that it could have been formed otherwise than has been supposed. The hand- 

 writing of the departed limestone wall was still legible on the broad sheet of 

 breccia that had been so long exposed. 



It may be remarked here that almost all the very numerous joints and frac- 

 tures in the Brixham limestone have a north and south (magnetic), or nearly 

 east and west direction or strike. A considerable number of these, of both 

 sets, are filled with red sandstone, varying from mere thread-like veins, to dikes 

 three feet wide, occasionally containing angular pieces of limestone, and some- 

 times traversed by veins of carbonate of lime. It is, perhaps, somewhat 

 darker and harder ; but in all other respects it so closely resembles the red 

 sandstone of the central shores of Torbay, as to suggest the idea that the 

 fissures existed and were filled in the early age represented by these sandstones, 

 probably the triassic ; whilst others, having the same directions, remained open, 

 or were re-opened to be filled, amongst other things, by the remains of animals 

 which were contemporary with man himself. Several questions present them- 

 selves here ; but, being foreign to the purpose of this paper, must be left with- 

 out further notice at present. 



Very near the left or southern foot of the dike is the mouth of a small 

 tunnel (r, Fig. 2), having a stalagmitic floor ; its extent is not known. In the 

 left or southern wall of the quarry two somewhat large chambers occur (u and 

 s in Fig. 2); they are partly filled with the same reddish clayey earth and 

 limestone debris, the ordinary cave deposit of the district. They are known to 

 be connected ; but whether they have any communication with the tunnel just 

 mentioned is uncertain ; no attempt whatever has been made at exploration ; 

 but it is extremely probable that they are all parts of one considerable 

 cavern. 



All the materials composing the dike undoubtedly fell, or were washed in 



