A BONE CAVE AT WALTON, NEAR CLEVEDON. 187 
Mr. Newton refers to Microtus ratticeps and Microtus gregalis. The 
latter species, however, varies much, and some of the forms approximate 
to Microtus nivalis ; while one or two, he thinks, may represent the 
last-named species. Mr. Martin Hinton, in a paper recently read 
before the Geologists’ Association, definitely refers some of these 
forms to Microtus nivalis (see p. 190). There is one jaw which, 
Mr. Newton thinks, may be doubtfully referred to Microtus agrestis : 
but it is just possible that this is a modern importation. 
A goodly number of the limb-bones in Dr. Male’s collection and 
others in the Bristol Museum are, it seems, too large to be referred 
to either of the species of Voles which have been recognised 
among the Clevedon remains ; Mr. Newton, however, finds that they 
agree with the limb-bones of the Norway Lemming (Myodes lemmus), 
but as no corresponding jaws or teeth have been found, he hesitates 
to include that species in the Clevedon list. Mr. Martin Hinton 
thinks these limb-bones may belong to the new nivaloid Vole which 
he has recently described as Microtus Malei. 
Aves. 
Although a considerable number of species of birds have been 
identified by Mr. Newton, as shown in the list on p. 184, each species 
is represented by only a small number of detached bones. The bones 
of birds were all found in the cave-earth, not in the superficial deposits. 
With the exception above noted of the finding of an associated 
series of the limb bones of a horse, all the bones occurred in a 
scattered and jumbled state, and clearly must have been washed into 
their position by water. There is, however, no fissure in the rock 
through which they could have been introduced, and this fact, 
together with that of the occurrence, banked up round its present 
mouth, of bone-bearing material identical with that occupying the cave, 
shows that the present cave is but a reduced remnant of a former 
larger- one. 
It is a noteworthy fact that the remains of Hyaenas which 
occurred so abundantly in the Mendip caves at Wookey and Uphill 
are entirely absent at Walton, and the fauna as a whole shows a 
poverty as compared with that of the Mendip caves. 
The only indications of the presence of man found are certain 
fragmentary bones collected by Mr. F. Beale, of Clevedon, from the 
superficial deposit at the mouth of the cave ; these were sent to 
Prof. Boyd Dawkins, to obtain his opinion as to whether they 
showed marks of cutting or splitting by human agenc}^ His reply 
was that he could see no marks of cutting on any of them, but he 
identified a portion of a human femur “ of the usual Neolithic type,” 
and other fragments. The small number and fragmentary state of 
these bones, and the existence of some uncertainty as to their 
association, render it unsafe to base any strong conclusions upon 
them. The probable presence of the Arctic Fox, and possibly of the 
Lemming, and as pointed out by Mr. Hinton, the character of the 
voles, all point to the cave being of very considerable antiquity, ac- 
cording to Mr. Hinton (see p. 191) it dates from the Middle Pleistocene. 
