460 



THE GEOLOGIST- 



from above ; furnishing a clear and good example of what probably occurred at 

 Orestone, near Plymouth, where the observed phenomena appear to compel the 

 belief that the fossil bones must have found ingress, in this way, to the cham- 

 bers in the heart of the limestone, though traces of an open fissure have not 

 always been so distinct there as could have been wished. 



Whether at Bench a passage from the tunnel was the channel through 

 which the chambers received their contents, is not at present known ; excava- 

 tions would probably soon determine this. 



At my first visit an effort was made to purchase the right of taking down 

 the remainder of the dike and thoroughly exploring the chambers ; for some 

 time there was a prospect of this being secured, but the proprietor, Mr. 

 Wolston, has at length decided on sooner or later investigating it himself; 

 and though this may be regretted, it is but just to add that he has at all times 

 allowed me the freest access to his premises, has promised to keep me fully 

 acquainted with the progress of the investigation, to allow me to note every 

 fact that may be disclosed, to be used, at my discretion, for the purpose of 

 science, and has favoured me with the loan of the specimens exhibited. 



No opinion can be given as to whether or not flint implements or other indi- 

 cations of human existence may be found in the cavern ; nothing whatever is 

 known about its extent or contents at present, and the only apology I can offer 

 for having brought so immature a subject before the section is, my desire to 

 keep it fully acquainted with every fact that discloses itself in the district in 

 connexion with these interesting mausolea. 



Every one acquainted with the Torbay limestone will be prepared to hear of 

 the discovery in it of new caverns at any time and in any number. Three or 

 four, at least, can at this moment be pointed out within a short distance north 

 and south of Bench ; one at Freshwater quarry is known to be upwards of forty 

 feet in length ; neither it or either of the others has yet been explored ; they 

 may be rich in organic remains, replete with evidence on the great question of 

 the antiquity of the human race, or they may be totally void of scientific fact. 



The discoveries made at Brixham in 1858 gave a stimulus, both to those 

 who hope to gain knowledge and those who hope to gain money, which will 

 not soon be lost. Quarrymen will not in future be so blind to their own 

 interests as to lay open a dike of osseous breccia without discovering that they 

 have done so, nor will proprietors hereafter be likely to use the language with 

 which one replied to a question I put to him some time ago respecting a 

 cavern which had been traced into his property. At first he knew nothing 

 about it, — " There was no cavern in his ground, certainly." At length, bright- 

 ening up, he exclaimed, — " Now you mention it, I do remember that I once saw 

 a very large hole in the rock, and I filled it up by throwing twenty cartloads 

 of rubbish into it." The fear may now be in the opposite direction. An 

 unreasoning love of gain may induce an ignorant activity to exhume the bones, 

 to the great loss of science. 



NOTICE OF THE ELSWORTH AND OTHER NEW ROCKS IN THE 

 OXFORD CLAY, AND OF THE BLUNTISHAM CLAY ABO YE THEM. 



By Harry Seeley. 



The Elsworth rock is a dark blue orgillaceous limestone full of deeply ferru- 

 ginous oolitic grains, and to some extent interlaced by thin veins of iron-pyrites. 

 It consists of three subdivisions, a lower rock seven feet thick, a middle clay 

 of about live feet, and an upper rock of nearly two feet, making a total thick- 

 ness Of fourteen feet. The fossils are such that the upper rock is readily dis- 



