392 
THE LAST DECADE. 
brown on exposure to tlie atmosphere. The middle .stratum consisted 
of sand, and contained boulders of stone, mostl}' of sub-angular form, 
and appeared to be principally composed of limestone and grit rock, 
derived from the adjoining country ; no bones were found in this bed. 
The third, or low^est stratum, was a brown, sandy clay, containing 
numerous well-rounded, waterworn pebbles of limestone, and of 
similar derivation to those in the middle stratum. Intermixed with 
these, especially near the base of the section, were numerous bones 
and teeth. The sands and clays surrounding or forming the matrix 
of the bones were cemented, and formed a hard mass. The bones 
for the most part, when newly exposed, were soft and friable, and it 
rarely happeued that a bone could be secured which retained its 
original form. They remained embedded in the matrix, and broke 
with it in any direction. After penetrating a distance of fifteen feet, 
the fissure terminated by a vertical wall of limestone, whose surface 
was w^ell rounded and waterworn, and from this point the fissure 
descended almost vertically for a distance of twenty-seven feet. This 
vertical portion of the fissure w^as filled up in a great portion of its 
depth by the bone-earth, but towards the bottom there was a large 
mass of yellow clay, with angular blocks of limestone. The animal 
remains obtaiued from the bone-earth included tusks and teeth of 
elephas antiquus, well preserved teeth and tusks of the hippopotamus, 
teeth of rhinoceros leptorhinus, and a portion of the horn of a roe- 
buck. Teeth of hj^^ena were numerous, and appeared mostly to be 
those of adult animals. At the lower extremity of the vertical 
portion of the fissure already mentioned, it branches in two directions, 
one proceeding eastwards, nearly horizontally. This was penetrated 
to a distance of twenty-five feet, where further progress was stopped 
by a mass of fallen limestone. The second branch extends in a 
southerly direction, and falls somewhat rapidly. The roof and 
sides of the fissure afford abundant signs of errosion, the sur- 
faces smooth ened and the corners rounded off by running water. 
This branch of the fissure was excavated to some extent, and 
a number of bones and teeth were found, affording examples, in 
additon to those already named, of the bear, the lion, a smaller 
animal, probably a fox, and the bones of a bird. Operations 
