1 66 JoJinson : Large Bog Oak at Horbury. 



is situated at Hoe-grang-e Quarry, Longcliffe, near Brassington, 

 and was broken into in the course of quarrying- operations. 

 Altog-ether over 8,000 specimens of bones, teeth, etc., haye been 

 gathered from the cavern, and these are carefully described in 

 the paper referred to. We learn that ' as soon as the discovery 

 became known the locality was visited by numerous ardent 

 collectors, some of whom came even at night-time and many 

 specimens were taken away.' One of the first precautions, 

 therefore, was to erect a door at the entrance of the cavern to 

 keep out intruders. Details of the various deposits examined 

 are given, and the authors appear to have taken every possible 

 care to derive the g-reatest amount of information possible from 

 the relative positions of the bones, etc. As reg-ards the original 

 nature of the cavern, which is of Pleistocene age, the authors 

 conclude that some of the bones fell or were washed in through 

 a swallow hole on the roof of the cavern, and that others were 

 introduced by Hyaenas which used the cavern as a den. The 

 remains of 27 different animals are recognised, as under : — Lion, 

 Cat, Hyaena, Wolf, Fox, Bear, Badger, Bat, Irish Deer, 



Red Deer, Fallow Deer, Roebuck, Boar, Rhinoceros, Elephas 

 antiquus, Rabbit, Hare, Bank Vole, Field Vole, Water Vole, 

 Field Mouse, Owl, Redwing, Robin, Frog, and Toad. Perhaps 

 the most interesting find is that of the lower jaw of a Lion's 

 whelp, which in the opinion of Prof. Boyd Dawkins is the most 

 important discovery recorded from any cave in this country. 

 The Wild Boar is also apparently a new record for Derbyshire. 

 The paper is accompanied by sections and photographs of the 

 cave, and some very fine illustrations of some of the more 

 interesting mammalian remains discovered. 



GEOLOGY, 



Large Bog Oak at Horbury. — During the excavations for 

 Horbury viaduct in February 1904, a large oak tree was met 

 with, and had to be cut through whilst making the foundations 

 for the supports. It occurred in the bed of the Smithy Brook 

 (a tributary of the River Calder), three feet down in a layer 

 of black sand and gravel, at a total depth from the surface 

 of 25 feet. It was not entirely uncovered, but that exposed 

 measured over 63 feet in length, the greatest diameter being 

 3 feet only. I am indebted to ]Mr. Gibson, assistant engineer, 

 for particulars. — J. W. H. Johnsox, Thornhill. 



Naturalist, 



