368 
POULTON: DOWKERBOTTOM CAVE 
passages of the cave, as evidence that the older animals could not 
have inhabited it. But on the other hand we have shewn firstly, 
that the present entrance was not the original one, and that the 
cave possesses a mouth of the usual kind, and secondly, that the 
cave deposits are of great thickness, so that a narrow passage 
may become a lofty chamber at the horizon of the older fauna. In 
fact the present floor is manifestly in many places, raised by falls 
of rock, almost to the roof. Thus while there is no evidence for 
the existence of the older remains, there is no more reason to 
doubt their presence, than in the other caves of Craven now 
known to contain them. They were found in abundance in one 
chamber of the Victoria cave, in which the cave deposits nearly 
touched the roof, before the exploration began. I much hope 
that next year it may be my fortune to decide the question, which 
is of extreme interest, whatever be the conclusion arrived at. In 
the meantime the upper layers have yielded many interesting 
specimens, and the whole work of the past summer has enabled 
us to trace a great part of the physical history of the cave. 
VESTIGES OP THE ANCIENT FOREST ON PART OF THE PENINE 
CHAIN. BY JOSEPH LUCAS, F.G.S. " 
It should be premised that the following sketch is drawn up from 
a voluminous series of notes, jotted down upon the 6in. ordnance 
maps (which are contoured at 25ft. intervals), during the progress 
of the Geological Survey of the district, 1869—1872. The de- 
scription principally refers to the basins of the Nidd and of the 
Burn. 
Nidderdale and its moors have formerly been covered by an 
extensive forest. Many troas, long buried in peat, are exposed 
in the thousands of sections made by little watercourses on the 
moors. The Birch appears almost everywhere predominant. 
Hazel, Sealh (Willow), Thorn, Oak, Alder, and other trees also 
occur, but the Birch evidently formed an extensive forest by itself, 
