Members of the joint C.U.C.C. and U.B.S.S. expedition to the Totes Gebirge in Austria in 1981 extended Schnellzughöhle (1623/115) to a depth of around 500 m and joined Stellerweghöhle (1623/41) to these extensions making 650 m in all. Both caves appear to continue beyond the limits of exploration, Schnellzughöhle as a descending canyon streamway and Stellerweghöhle in a steeply descending dry phreatic passage breaking into rifts above unentered streamways.

Fleet Street, an inlet passage in Manor Farm Swallet discovered in 1980 is described. The source of severe pollution of the stream is discussed. A silt in the new passage appears to be among the oldest sediments in the cave. The normal magnetization of the silt suggests deposition during the past 700,000 years. By implication, the cave is unlikely to be much older than this.

The site is a cleft in the side of the Mells River that acts as a resurgence in winter and a swallet in summer. An excavation, 1974-78, began 21 m above and ended 2 m below river level. It showed that a high-level resurgence was active in the Middle Devensian and was buried under later deposits. Scattered finds of archaeological significance included Wooly Rhinoceros bones and a First Century bronze brooch. Water tracing experiments proved that the Sink is the upper end of an active underground oxbow to the Mells River, 2.5 km long. The cleft was developed along a neptunian dyke of Lower Lias age. Bubbling springs and ‘cave coral’ are briefly discussed.

Excavation for a water main in 1979 revealed an underground stream flowing through a pipe-like conduit in clay, 2 metres below ground. Several active sinkholes near the site are linked to the streamway. It is thought that the streamway developed as a cave in a thin calcareous bed, interbedded among mudstones, that has been locally removed by solution.

An account is given of a resurgence cave in the east bank of the Little Neath River, 430 m south of Pwll y Rhyd. It extends for 48 m and is part of an oxbow of the main river. The stream within the cave derives from an inlet 225 m upstream in the river bed and dries up during drought.

A description and survey of the cave Bullock Pot is given. The cave runs east of the shale-limestone boundary and near its end picks up a large stream, believed to be the main stream from the Poulnagollum-Poulelva System. The cave is unusually arduous for Co. Clare. Also presented is a surface survey of the sinks between Bullock Pot and Pollcragreagh, which is the next major cave to the south, and a discussion of the past hydrology of the area.

The Balliny closed depression is formed along a N-S line of weakness and lies within an extensive limestone plateau on the north-west side of Slieve Elva. Prior to the last glacial advance the area had a thin shale covering and the depression served as the major sink for the region. During late glacial times the shales were removed and the sink became choked with sediments. The depression became a seasonal lake and overflowed directly to the sea. The post-glacial cave Pollballiny has, in the lower part of its course, been captured by an older cave associated with this depression. The terminal choke of Pollballiny, whose position has been confirmed by radio-location, lies on th esame N-S line of weakness as the depression. It is likely that the further parts of this cave turn north along this line before heading west to the sea.

Explanations concerning the origin of obligate cavernicoles, or troglobites, have long been a source of controversy among biospeleologists. It is suggested here that troglophiles become troglobites as the result of an adaptive shift to an ecological niche which cannot occur in epigean communities. This adaptive shift is facilitated by preadaptation of the incipient troglobite through the development of genoclines in its troglophilic ancestral population. The shift to troglobitism is forced by competitive exclusion of the incipient troglobite from its original troglophilic niche by an invading species or community. The major changes of fauna produced in temperate latitudes by the climatic fluctuations of the Pleistocene have resulted in a particularly rich troglobitic fauna composed mainly of cryophilic relicts inhabiting temperate caves.

A detailed examination of the possible sub-divisions of autogenic percolation cave inflows, employing data from G.B. Cave, Mendip Hills, generally supports previous classifications. Two major groups comprising quickflow and baseflow can be further sib-divided into four classes which correspond with the general morphological descriptions: subcutaneous flow, shaft and vadose flow, percolation streams and seepage flow. The most important properties of percolation flow behaviour are maximum discharge, reflecting fissure transmission capacity, and discharge variability, reflecting available storage. Classifications based on carbonate hardness are considered of limited use due to the possible evolution of percolating water with depth and to differences in the nature of recharge area. However, the variability of carbonate hardness is related closely to variability in discharge and functions equally well as a discriminatory variable.