Four temporary exposures at Clapton Nurseries, Wynhol valley, Clevedon Court and Tickenham Waterworks and the M5 Avonmouth Bridge are described. Several types of periglacial phenomena were noted, including frost shattered and soliflucted limestone breccias, soliflucted Mercia Mudstone, ice wedge casts, involutions, widened rock joints and aeolian coversand deposits. The stratigraphic significance of the sequences is discussed and it is concluded that there is evidence mainly from the Devensian and possibly from the Wolstonian stages of the Pleistocene.

Shotholes in an 18th century lead mine were tamped with a mixture of lime and grit, possibly to keep the gunpowder charge dry by absorbing moisture. Lime-blasting was not used at this site.

Analysis of sediment samples from Sun Hole Cave, Cheddar, has revealed the presence of the fossil land snail Retinella (Lyrodiscus) which is now extinct in Britain. Molluscs of the subgenus Lyrodiscus are presently restricted to the Canary Islands but were widespread in Europe in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene.

Deposits in the fourth chamber of Wookey Hole cave were found to contain up to 0.5% lead, more than 30 times as much as in other Mendip caves (Stenner, 1978). Ten teeth recovered, with other skeletal material, from this deposit, were analysed for lead, cadmium, copper and zinc, using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy. Comparing with local data for modern teeth, cadmium levels were high and lead levels very high. However, some values (zinc and copper) and relative standard deviations (zinc, copper and cadmium) were within expected limits. The range of values for lead was unusually narrow in relation to concentration. Post-mortem exposure of the teeth to a lead-rich environment may have contributed to the bulk of the 75 p.p.m. lead typical of these teeth.

Caves in the Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, contain at least four types of living-spaces, or habitats, each of which is consistently used by a particular group of animal species. The structure of each group of animals carries information about the adaptations of individual species, the history of the group as a whole and the character of the habitat. This information can be measured in terms of the ‘species diversity’ of the group. In this study the species diversities of several groups were compared with the stability, predictability, food supply and complexity of their habitats. The aim was to test a model which predicted that species diversity is promoted by high habitat stability, predictability, heterogeneity and an abundant supply of food. Only habitat predictability was shown to affect species diversity. Low species diversity was correlated with unpredictable floods which disturb or destroy the structure of the group.

The Cave of the Wild Horses is the only known cave of any size in Co. Clare associated with a turlough. A description of the extensions to Gour Passage discovered in April 1983, together with a revised survey of the cave, is given. The new passages are phreatic in origin and may often be flooded. A tentative sequence of the formation of the cave, together with a review of the available information concerning its behaviour under flood conditions is also presented.

Additions and corrections to the book: The Caves of County Clare (Self, 1981).