10 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
THE CATTEDOWN BONE CAYE. 
BY R. N. WORTH, F. G. S. 
(Read 20th October, 1887.) 
The bone caves of the Plymouth district must always occupy 
a leading place in the history of cave research in England, for 
the bone-bearing fissure discovered by Mr. Whidbey, in 1816, 
in the Breakwater Quarries at Oreston, was the first cavern made 
the subject of definite scientific investigation in this country. It 
is the more needful to insist upon this fact, because no one would 
rise from a perusal of the general cavern literature of England 
with a clear idea of its importance. Every writer upon bone 
caves has, perhaps not unnaturally, shown a most paternal regard 
for the reputation of his own child or children ; and the example 
seems too good to be ignored. Not, of course, that I had anything 
to do with cavern exploration carried out more than threescore 
and ten years ago ; but the fact remains, that all who were 
concerned in the investigation of our local cavern phenomena for 
more than a generation were either members of, or in some 
way connected with, this Institution \ and that as a society 
we have every reason to be proud of the work they did. It is 
quite true that for a while this special form of scientific enquiry 
appears to have been neglected here, but discoveries seem then to 
have been few and comparatively unimportant ; and since an 
active interest has been revived, during the past ten years, "find" 
has followed " find," culminating in the unprecedented discovery 
at Cattedown. 
There is no need to recapitulate the history of local cavern 
research. So far as I know, that story is fully told, and every 
available reference given, in the paper on the "Bone Caves of the 
Plymouth District," read before this Society on the 29th February, 
1879 and in the supplementary paper " On an Ossiferous Fissure 
1 Trans. Plym. Inst. vii. 87-117. 
