REPORT ON THE EXPLORATION OF BRIXHAM CAVE. 
535 
are recorded under Nos. XXVI. & XXIX. in the “ Register.” The remains comprised 
under No. XXVI. were found 3 feet from the entrance of the Flint-knife Gallery, at a 
depth of only 3 inches in the third bed. They consist chiefly of the right ramus of the 
lower jaw, with the permanent canine, though partially exposed by recent fracture of the 
bone, still wholly in germ, and with the crown of the penultimate molar just protruded 
from the alveolus. Together with this were several other teeth of the permanent and 
milk series, which, from their age and condition, undoubtedly belonged to the same 
individual, and a fragment of the right maxilla showing the 4 pm in situ and just 
emerged from the alveolus. Seven feet further in from the entrance, and lying on the 
surface of the stalagmite floor, was the opposite ramus of the same mandible, having the 
milk-canine still in situ and the permanent tooth completely concealed in the alveolus, 
though the second permanent incisor is fully protruded and the third is just making 
its appearance. Near the same spot was also found the shaft of a very young tibia 
sticking in the stalagmite, and which, there is every reason to conclude, belonged to the 
same individual as the jaws and teeth. These bones are all in the most fragile and 
delicate condition ; and more especially is it to be remarked that the shell of bone 
covering the swollen germs of the permanent canines, and consequently in a much 
exposed part of the bone, is as thin as paper and as fragile as glass, or even more so. 
Nevertheless, except the injuries necessarily received by such fragile objects at or since 
the time of extraction, they appear absolutely perfect. They are of a light colour and 
very porous, in fact closely resembling the superficial bones generally. But it is a 
strange circumstance that among these comparatively modern bones of a very young 
Bear was found the ungual phalanx of an adult animal, nearly black in colour and a 
good deal worn or weathered, and presenting all the characters of the most remote 
antiquity. 
A somewhat similar instance is afforded by the specimens included under Nos. 
CVII., CVIII., and CIX. of the “ Register,” all of which occurred from 10 to 16 feet 
from the same entrance, some lying on the surface of the third bed, and some imbedded 
in the stalagmite. Amongst these bones are the shafts of the right and left humerus, of 
both tibise, and a left ramus of the lower jaw (some of the milk-teeth still in situ ) ; 
and the occurrence of this part, as well as of the two tibiae, renders it probable that the 
bones associated with it all belonged to a second individual young Bear of about the 
same age as the one above described. All the bones are in the same light porous con- 
dition, though slightly dendritic and infiltrated with calcareous matter. The tibiae are 
each perforated near the middle by a perfectly circular hole, about ^ inch in dia- 
meter ; these holes, from the appearance of the minute fractures round the edges, are 
evidently recent*. Together with these bones are associated a portion of the pelvis and 
the scapho-cuboid of the Roe, the slightly abraded and perhaps bitten astragalus of a 
very small Ox, and a fragment of a long bone, perhaps of the same, together with a small 
* From subsequent inquiry it appears that these holes were made for the purpose of fixing the bones on a 
board, in order to exhibit them with other articles. 
4 C 
MDCCCLXXIII. 
