REPORT ON THE EXPLORATION OF BRIXHAM GAVE. 
485 
running water carrying detrital matter in a sensibly horizontal direction ; and at cor- 
responding levels in the opposite walls there are two pairs of broad deep grooves, 
which, without sensible inclination, run along the entire length of the galleries (see 
a a & b h, figs. D, E, G, Plate XLIII.). In the Pen Gallery the lowest pair only 
exists. The abrasion or polish of the walls is most strongly marked in the Steep Slide 
Hole. 
The Limestone Floor of the Galleries. — The limestone walls, as seen in figs. E), E, F, 
commonly curve inwards below the lowest pair of grooves ; but instead of meeting so 
as to form a continuous floor, they remain separated by a central longitudinal fissure, 
which varies from 3 to 18 inches in width, and averages about a foot. In the eastern 
14 feet of the Flint-knife Gallery the floor is perfectly continuous, there being 
no trace of a fissure, nor indeed of any line of fracture (fig. G). Towards the 
northern end of the Reindeer Gallery (fig. C) there are two such floor-fissures, 
and each wide enough to admit of working to a greater depth than elsewhere in the 
galleries. 
A north and south fissure crosses the floor of the West Chamber (Plate XLIII. 
fig. 2, m), and communicates with the South Chamber through an “ undervaulting 
this, though somewhat wider than the floor-fissures are elsewhere, gradually narrows 
downward. 
The Ceiling. — Throughout a considerable part of both the north and south branches 
of the Reindeer Gallery, what may be called a Stalagmitic Ceiling ( s' ) extends horizon- 
tally from wall to wall. It varies from 6 inches to upwards of a foot in thickness ; and 
through the considerable openings which occur in it an unoccupied space is seen 
above, which varies from 15 inches to more than 2 feet (o, figs. C, D, E, & fig. 1)„ 
In several instances pieces of old stalagmite, angular, subangular, and well rounded, 
together with small pieces of quartz and limestone, are firmly cemented to its inferior 
surface. 
A few stalactites depended from the roof in the Reindeer and Pen Galleries, and also 
in the South Chamber ; and here and there the same branches of the cavern were orna- 
mented with pillars and curtains of the same material. 
A Floor of Stalagmite (s), varying in thickness from a few inches to upwards of a 
foot, commenced in the Reindeer Gallery about 17 feet south of the entrance (that is, 
1 foot within the commencement of the unbroken roof), and extended over the detrital 
accumulations southwards into, but not through or beyond, the Crystal Gorge. A lateral 
branch of this “ floor ” extended into the Flint-knife Gallery, where it gradually thinned 
out to a mere film (Plate XLIII. figs. 1 & 2). 
It was generally of a pure white or cream colour, unsoiled by earthy matter ; but in 
a few instances soil-stains were conspicuous. Vertical sections showed it to be very 
distinctly laminated, the layers varying in thickness, and being sometimes alternately 
crystalline and earthy. It attained its maximum thickness near the northern end of the 
