324 FAUNA OF THE DORDOGNE CAVES. 



which passed before our eyes as we dropped down theVezere. 

 As the river visited sometimes one side of its valley, some- 

 times the other, so we had at one moment rich meadow-lands 

 on each side, or found ourselves close to the perpendicular 

 and almost overhanging cliff. Here and there we came upon 

 some picturesque old castle, and though the trees were not in 

 full leaf, the rocks were in many places green with box and 

 ivy and evergreen oak, which harmonized well with the rich 

 yellow brown of the stone itself. 



But to return to the bone-caves. Eemains of the cave-bear 

 have been found at the Pey de l'Az(3 of the cave-hyaena at 

 Le Moustier, and separated plates of elephant molars have 

 occurred at Le Moustier and at Laugerie, accompanied at the 

 latter place by a piece of a pelvis. As regards the two first 

 species, MM. Christy and Lartet regard them as probably 

 belonging to an earlier period than the human remains found 

 in the same caves. The presence of the pelvis has been 

 regarded as an evidence of the contemporaneity of the mam- 

 moth with the reindeer hunters of Laugerie, and it is certainly 

 difficult to see why they should have brought a fossil-bone 

 into their cave, more especially as the bones of elephants, 

 from the looseness of their texture, are not well adapted for 

 implements. 



As regards the Fells spclcea, a metacarpal bone belonging 

 probably to this species, and bearing marks of knives, was 

 found in the cave of Les Eyzies. 



Still, so far as the positive zoological evidence is concerned, 

 the antiquity of the human remains found in these grottos 

 rests mainly on the pesence of the reindeer, as regards which 

 the evidence is conclusive. The bones of this species are all 

 broken open for the marrow ; many of them bear the marks 

 of knives, and at Les Eyzies a vertebra was found which had 

 been pierced by a flint flake. MM. Christy and Lartet are 

 quite satisfied that this bone must have been fresh when ic 



