POULTON : DOWKERBOTTOM CAVE. 
365 
a serious impediment to the work, and marry of the blocks had to 
be broken before they could be got out of the pit. 
At a depth of 12 ft. the left wall of the cave was found sloping 
downwards (Fig. iii) ; this was followed for 2 ft. more, and had 
then taken a vertical direction. Beneath this thick bed of mechan- 
ical deposits it is quite possible that the older cave earth exists. 
I am certain that the former accounts are in error in describing a 
floor. They met with the blocks above the clay — some of them 
very large — and mistook these for the floor. In fact in the diagram 
appended to Mr. Denny's paper, the clay itself is entirely omitted, 
and the limestone floor is placed beneath the soft stalagmite in 
the section of this chamber. We should most certainly have dug 
through the clay, and settled the question of the older cave 
remains in this chamber, had it not been for the constant stoppage 
due to water'. Quite half the labour expended this summer was 
rendered fruitless in this way. Sometimes the pit was filled with 
rain water that came in large quantities through the roof in wet 
weather, but more generally our work was stopped by striking a 
spring. We attempted to complete the section at nearly all points 
along parallel K, that is, right across the centre of the chamber. 
In one case, under the right wall we dug 10 ft. through soft 
stalagmite, and then, apparently on the surface of the clay, we 
came on a spring preventing further work. The right wall 
extended downwards quite vertically as far as we exposed it. 
The clay was shewn to be far deeper at the right side, and the 
stalagmite much thicker (See Fig. iv). This character we also 
detected in other sections. There are many curious water-chan- 
nels in the stalagmite, generally dry, but full of water in wet 
weather (Fig. iv) ; they are principally developed between the 
stalagmite and the clay. In the higher parts of the soft stalag- 
mite are burrows containing rabbit bones ; some of these burrows 
appear to have been adapted from dry water-channels. 
No remains of any kind were found in the layers below the 
black earth, except in the hard stalagmite immediately below 
