nUITISH ASSOCIATION MKKTINO. 
439 
and liorsc before llicy wore buried in diluviiil mud." Tlic aecoiiiit wliieh Mr. 
Bell 1ms given in iiis "History of the Existing Quadrupeds of Jiritiiin," of the 
food and habits of tlie weasel, is, however, scarcely rcconcileable with the idea 
of its ai)|)lying its slender acuminate teeth to tlie act of gnawing bones; and 
we shall be justilicd, therefore, in requiring further evidence before admitting 
the Piitorius citl(j(irh into the catalogue of British Fossils, as the associate of 
the extinct mammalia of the Orestou caves."* That author returns to the sub- 
ject in the following passage in the same work where he is describing certain 
fossil remains of the water-vole, Aroicola amphiljia. " Some of the bones from 
the cavernous fissures at Oreston show marks of nibbling, which may be 
referred more probably to the incisors of a small rodent, than to the canines 
of a weasel."f 
The subject is chiefly interesting in its connection with Oreston, as bones of 
both weasel and water-vole have been found in Kent's Hole, Torquay, and 
in the Ash-Hole, near Berry Head. 
So far as can be gathered from the authors whom I have been able to con- 
sult, the following species are, according to the present state of our knowledge, 
l)eculiar to Oreston, as they do not appear to have been found elsewhere : 
namely, the fossil ass, or zebra, Asitnis fossilis, Bison minor, and the long- 
fronted ox, Bos lonaifrom — all extinct forms. 
In his letter to Mr. Barrow, dated Plymouth, November 9th, 1822, Mr. 
Whidbey says, " These I tliiiik will be the last bones I shall send you from 
these caves, as they are now nearly worked out. The cave B terminated near 
where it was first seen ; the head of it was closed over with a body of limestone. 
The joints of the rock were not so close but that water might drop down 
into the cave ; and about those joints some stalactites were foiuid in small 
pieces. I have not seen anything to encourage the idea that the cavern had a 
communication with the surface since the Hood ; the present state of the 
quarries shows notiiing like it. "J 
And so far as he was concerned, Mr. Whidbey was right ; they were the last 
bones he sent up ; but after the lapse of thirty -six years the quarrymen have 
found other caverns and fissures rich in bones. I now propose to give such 
information as I possess respecting this recent discovery. 
My attraction was fii'st called to the subject towards the close of last year 
(1858) by a letter from Dr. Percy, of the School of Mines, Jermyu-street, 
London, m which he incidentally mentioned that a gentleman had just brought 
to tovm some large bones then recently found at Oreston, and he suggested 
that some attention shoidd be given to the matter. I was at that time closely 
occupied with the " WiudmLU-liLU-eavern," at Erixham, and coidd not go down. 
About the middle of January last, a dealer in geological specimens, at Ply- 
mouth, wrote to uiform me that a day or two before he had got possession of 
some fossds which he believed to be of great value, but he gave no other in- 
formation whatever about them. I took the earliest opportunity of visiting him, 
and found his fossils to be mammalian remains, just exhumed from a new cavern 
at Oreston. They consisted of a coiisideral^le number of teeth, most of them of 
herbivores, including the elephant ; with a few of carnivorous animals, amongst 
others the cave-lion and cavcrn-bear. The owner had not then decided on the 
price for which he would sell the sjjccimeus; but he engaged not to part with 
them without Icttmg me hear from him. 
Circumstances prevented my going to the quarry on that occasion, but early 
in February I went again to Plymouth, purchased all the bones in the posses- 
* British Fossil Mammalia and Birds, p. lis. 
t Ibid, p. 201. 
X Philosophical Transactions, 1823, p. 88. 
