48 
the strata, being nearly vertical, or inclining about 10° to the 
north. It is about six feet in width from face to face of the 
solid rock, and is filled up with angular blocks of limestone, 
cemented together at the sides of the fissure into a solid 
breccia, the stones being coated with stalagmite, whilst the 
centre is filled in with angular rubble and damp ochreous 
clay. The whole had evidently been filled in from above. 
The bones were recovered in good condition from the 
breccia on the dryer side of the fissure, but those occurring 
amongst the damp clay and rubble were so friable that it was 
quite impossible to save them. Large numbers af ivory 
flakes were found, which proved to be the remains of the 
teeth, and one large fragment of too tlx was obtained which 
was decomposing into these flakes. 
At the furthest point reached, a very interesting group of 
bones was discovered, viz., a humerus in the socket of the 
scapula, with the head of another humerus resting upon it at 
the other end, and two cervical vertebrae were found near the 
scapula. These were the only bones found in their relative 
positions. 
It was conjectured that the mammoth had fallen into the 
narrow fissure before it was filled in, its huge bulk preventing 
its reaching the bottom, so that it remained jammed in until 
by natural decay it fell to the bottom, bit by bit. By this 
supposition the absence of the head was accounted for, as it 
would probably fall off first, and would roll lower down the 
chasm. This surmise is confirmed by the fact that Mr. 
Wardle found several fragments of the teeth on his second 
visit, fifteen or twenty feet below the point where the bones 
occurred. 
The author had not been able to find any record of the 
occurrence of the remains of the mammoth in any work on 
the geology of Derbyshire or Staffordshire; and Mr. Wardle, 
who has recently published an interesting account of the geology 
of the neighbourhood of Leek, believed it to be an entirely 
