422 
THE LAST DECADE. 
circles, with dots in their centres. In this cave several implements 
or ornaments of bronze were obtained, brooches, rings, a needle, and 
others, some iron implements were discovered, and numerous frag- 
ments of pottery, mostly bearing a Roman character. Indications of 
the use of fire were frequent. Fragments of charred wood and pot 
boilers for heating water were not uncommon. After investigating 
the black superficial deposit, a shaft was sunk to ascertain the depth 
of the floor and its contents. They first passed through alternating 
layers of hard and soft stalagmite, which carried them down to a 
depth of four feet. Then large blocks of limestone encrusted with 
hard stalagmite were met with, and below this horizon all chemical 
deposits ceased, and those of mechanical origin alone succeeded. For 
a depth of ten feet there was an extremely tough, stiff, brown clay, 
and huge blocks of limestone were abundant, rough and angular, 
and uncovered by stalagmite. At the depth of twelve feet the left 
wall of the cave was found sloping downwards. This was followed 
for two feet more, and had then taken a vertical direction. Beneath 
this thick bed of mechanical deposits it is possible that the older 
cave-earth exists. The further investigation, however, was stopped 
by the constant and great influx of water. No remains of any kind 
were found beneath the surface layer of black earth, except in the 
hard stalagmite immediately below it, in which the remains of a dog 
or wolf are common, and in excellent preservation. Whilst there is 
no evidence so far for the existence of older remains, there is no 
reason to doubt their presence. They were found in abundance in 
one chamber of the Victoria Cave under very similar circumstances to 
those existing in the Dowkabottom Cave, and it is probable that fur- 
ther investigations may render their presence known in the latter as 
well. Mr. Poulton was greatly aided in his labour by the kindly 
assistance rendered by Mr. Eddy, of Carlton, near Skipton. 
The excavations necessary for the erection of the new railway 
station at York afforded an opportunity for the investigation of the 
glacial beds in that district, of which Mr. J. Edmund Clarke readily 
availed himself, and subsequently formed the basis of an elaborate 
and interesting paper which he contributed to tlie Society at a meet- 
ing held at Hull in 1881. The glacial beds are divided into two 
