THE BONE CAVES OF THE PLYMOUTH DISTRICT. 99 
Of the aurochs we have the horn core mentioned, with pieces 
of a second, fragments of the skull, portions of the left ramus of 
the lower jaw with several teeth, a perfect vertebra, portions of 
pelvic bones, a humerus, an ulna, metacarpal, and metatarsal bones ; 
a number of phalanges, including a perfect ungual phalanx, and 
the phalanges articulating therewith, sesamoid bones, fragments of 
ribs, &c, indicating the presence of the entire animal, though the 
bones were evidently re-deposited. 
The horn core ranks among the finest that have been found. 
Its extreme outer length is 15 J inches, and its girth at the root is 
llf inches. The breadth of the longer basal axis is 4 inches, of 
the shorter 3£ inches. The extreme depth of the cavity is 4 j inches, 
and the greatest thickness of the shell at the root 1 inch. On the 
straight its length is 14 inches, and its weight before it was dried 
was 3 lbs. 15 ounces. "When found the tip of the core had been 
broken off, and these measurements apply to its imperfect condition. 
A few days later the extremity of the tip turned up. It was 4^ 
inches in outer length, 3f on the straight, and its width at the 
point half an inch. In general section the core is an irregular oval, 
flattened towards the tip. As it is evident that at least three or 
four inches of the core between the larger and smaller portions are 
still wanting, the total length of the horn when perfect and coated 
exceeded two feet. The aurochs to which it belonged, therefore, 
must have been a formidable beast, its horns spreading from tip to 
tip, including the frontal breadth of skull, upwards of five feet. 
Of Bos we have a number of vertebrae, chiefly broken, a humerus, 
leg bones, some very perfect, phalanges, teeth, and the left ramus 
of lower jaw. 
The remains of Cervus elaphus include portions of humerus, 
ulna, metatarsus, and a fragment of jaw. 
The fissure which has been already noticed as continuing the 
cavern downwards was subsequently to the discovery worked upon, 
and its clayey contents removed. They yielded nothing, however, 
in the way of bones from August until March, when the base of a 
canine of bear was discovered. 
This brings the history of the Oreston bone caves down to the 
present date. 
And now for a point of special importance. Had the earlier in- 
vestigators of our bone caverns been true to the claims of science, 
the question of the antiquity of man would not have been left to 
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