55S 
REPORT ON THE EXPLORATION OF ERIXIIAM CAVE. 
Only one specimen of the Lagomys was found, and that on the surface of the cave- 
earth far in the Reindeer Gallery. 
These species represent the succession of animals frequenting the cave, or those living 
in the district, during the time the cave-beds were accumulating*; and the question next 
to be considered is the manner in which their bones were introduced. It is evident 
that the cave served for a very long period as a passage for water, though there appears 
equal reason to believe that the bones were not brought in by water ; while, at the 
same time, we think that the cave could not be considered a Hyaena-den in the ordinary 
acceptation of the word. 
In the first place, the shingle may have been brought in by a stream entering through 
the lower opening of the West Chamber, passing thence along the Flint-knife Gallery 
and the northern branch of the Reindeer Gallery. This stream, or its affluents, must 
have flowed over the slates, grits, and shales to the westward of Brixham, pebbles of 
which rocks, together with others of greenstone and ironstone, have been carried into 
the cave along with the more numerous local limestone pebbles. The area of drainage 
is, however, so small and the rocks so impermeable, that the stream would have been 
occasionally dry ; and at such periods probably were the remains of the Mammoth, Horse, 
and Ox, which then inhabited the district, brought in at intervals by Tigers and Hyaenas 
and devoured on the spot, for the bones show little traces of wear and much of gnawing. 
In the second place, the bone-earth shows an entire change in the hydrographical 
conditions, while the palaeontological conditions remain unaltered. Water charged with 
silt probably found its way into the cave by the lower or north entrance and deposited 
the cave-earth, in which occurs so great an accumulation of bones, including, in addition 
to the above-named animals, those of the various Deer, Bears, Fox, Rhinoceros, Hare, 
and Lemming. Looking at all the circumstances of the case, I consider it most pro- 
bable that at that second period the cave was at times dry, and at other times flooded, 
not by streams flowing in from higher ground, but by flood-waters from streams at a 
level lower than that of the cave — that during the former intervals the cave continued 
to be frequented by Carnivores who brought in their prey to devour — and that with 
each successive inundation successive collections of bones were covered up and imbedded 
in the sediment with which the flood- waters were charged. 
There are two facts frequently noticed by Mr. Busk and apparently irreconcilable, but 
which are in perfect accordance with this view of the subject. The one is that many of 
the bones, although found at some depth in the cave-earth No. 3, are yet slightly 
incrusted with stalagmite ; and the other is that, as already mentioned, some of the 
bones show a condition which Mr. Busk considers to be the result of exposure to the 
sun and air on the surface of the ground. But if we follow out what may have been 
the consequence of the state of things we have suggested, both these effects would in all 
probability have resulted therefrom ; for it is not conceivable but that, under favourable 
* See Part 2 of Hr. Busk’s report, which gives the relative mean depth at which the remains of the different 
animals were found. 
