COEEESPONDEXCE. 
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 s^ms 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 througli 
some orifice in the upper surface by the action of rain. I may have 
traversed the fissure for about nfty 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, many more would be found there. 
Among these bones were no Imman 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 
intelligent persons engaged upon the 
Government works and was suggested s.-Sccihu of gullv, N.^V. side of 
to me m the firs place by Mr. Home. - ^^^^^ Hill, Portlaud. 
i subjom a sketch oi the top ot a gully 
on the north-west side of the Yern 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, 
Elmstead, Colchester, June 17lh, 18G3. . O. FisHEB. 
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 api3ropriate examples. Hoping 
you will excuse my thus trespassing on your valuable space, 
I remain, 5'ours truly, 
Chakles Jecks, jun. 
Woodlands, Thorpe^ near Xoncich, June 8, 1863. 
