G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 221 



er. The sewing, especially that of the belt, indicated no in- 

 considerable degree of skill. 



The body was of the male sex, and in a good state of pres- 

 ervation, although of a dark color, in consequence of satura- 

 tion by the acids and tannin matter of the peat. The skin 

 aud muscles, under the microscope, exhibited their original 

 condition, although the intestines seemed to have mainly dis- 

 appeared. The bones were blackish-brown, light, but gener- 

 ally of firm consistency, with the exception of the skull bones, 

 which were so soft and distorted as to prevent a satisfactory 

 investigation of their character. 



An important feature of this object consisted in the hori- 

 zontal wearing or abrasion of the teeth, which, in Europe, is 

 said only to occur in skulls found in the graves of the Stone 

 period, thus proving the great age of the body. While the 

 dress seems to indicate an antiquity about equal to that of 

 the Christian era, the teeth would carry it considerably far- 

 ther back. The body has now been thoroughly dried, and 

 will be preserved in the Museum of Antiquities at Kiel. 



A second body was subsequently obtained, not far from 

 the locality in which the first was discovered, at a depth of 

 two and a half feet. This was in a poorer condition of pres- 

 ervation, and nothing is said of the nature of the dress. 

 Corr. Blatt. d. Gesellsch. Anthropoid etc., 18 VI, 29. 



PREHISTORIC BEADS. 



Dr. Rau, the well-known ethnologist of New York, has 

 made a communication to the German Anthropological So- 

 ciety in regard to the occurrence of Coscinopora globularis 

 upon the island of Riigen. These are small globular fossils 

 of the Chalk period, with a central axis of a softer material, 

 which sometimes rots away, or is removed artificially, allow- 

 ing them to be strung like beads. The diluvial strata of 

 Amiens, in which, as is w T ell known, very ancient flint im- 

 plements, as well as the bones of extinct animals, occur in 

 profusion, also embrace a number of these stony objects; and 

 it has been suggested that they were gathered by the men 

 of the Mammoth epoch as ornaments, since their accumula- 

 tion in particular places is much greater than can be ascribed 

 to any geological conditions. Dr. Rau is quite inclined to 

 accept the idea that these "Riigen pearls" were gathered pur- 



