524 
EEPOET ON THE EXPLOEATION OF BEIXHAM CAVE. 
6. Cervus ( Strongyloceros J elaphus. 
Not more than ten or eleven specimens, referable with tolerable certainty to the sub- 
genus Strongyloceros , Owen, appear to have been met with in the Brixham Cave. It is 
far from improbable, however, that additional pieces may exist amongst the undeter- 
mined fragments and splinters. 
With three exceptions these remains lay at an average depth of between 3 and 4 feet 
in the third bed, in the Reindeer and Flint-knife Galleries — the least depth being 9 inches, 
and the greatest about 8 feet, both in the former locality. Six of these specimens 
consist either of the basal portion of shed horns or of fragments (two) of round antlers. 
All these specimens present an appearance of great antiquity, being deeply coloured, 
heavy, and dense. The three exceptions, on the contrary, exhibit a comparatively more 
modern, or rather a less ancient aspect. One of them, a proximal phalanx, was found 
at the bottom of a “ pipe,” which penetrated 5 feet into the fourth bed in the Reindeer 
Gallery; whilst the others, consisting of an astragalus and a portion of the right 
maxilla with three teeth, were met with on the surface of, or immediately below, the 
stalagmite floor in the Flint-knife Gallery and South Chamber. 
The character of the horns is well marked, and such as to leave no doubt of the sub- 
generic position of the species. They all appear to have been gnawed, and perhaps 
rolled; and they have all formed parts of naturally shed antlers of different sizes, 
varying in circumference immediately above the burr from 7 to a little more than 
9 inches; they were consequently about the same size as the horns of the existing 
European species. The only other decidedly ancient bone from which any comparison 
can be drawn is a gnawed, or perhaps broken, and rolled right os magnum, nearly black 
in colour, and which measures l"* 6 X 
The other remains, which occurred more superficially, comprise the phalanx above 
referred to as found in the “ pipe,” a nearly perfect astragalus, and a small portion of 
the right maxilla, containing the first and second molars in situ , and scarcely worn, in 
association with which was found a second upper milk molar, obviously belonging to 
the same jaw. This specimen is nearly covered with a thin layer of red crystalline 
stalagmite, beneath which the hone is of a dirty yellowish-white colour, and with hardly 
a trace of dendritic infiltration. The teeth, which, as has been said, have been scarcely 
brought into wear, measure : — 
1 m ..... . -98 X -90 
2 m 1-10 X -90 
The corresponding dimensions in a fine Scottish Stag are *77 X '81 and '90 x ‘91, and in a 
female specimen from Germany '80 X '80 and *90 x '85. In the British Museum there 
is a very fine collection of Strongylocerine remains from Grays Thurrock, amongst which 
two forms, very distinct from each other in size, but otherwise indistinguishable from 
C. ela/phus , can be recognized. In the larger of these forms, the two teeth in question, 
in a specimen of the upper jaw (No. 20,277), which is rare as compared with the lower, 
allowance being made for their great difference in wear, are, at any rate at the neck, of 
