298 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



in the hut, and the head, having been solemnly abused by the 

 owner, has its mouth sewed up to prevent a chance for a re- 

 ply. 15 A, August 30, 1873, 278. 



THE FOSSIL MAN OF MENTONE. 



Much interest was excited a year or two ago at the dis- 

 covery by Mr. E. Riviere of sundry prehistoric skeletons in 

 the caverns of Baousse-Rousse,nearMentone, these presenting 

 some marked peculiarities as compared with the human frame- 

 work of more modern times. 



Referring to previous articles on this subject, we may re- 

 mark that in June of 1873 an adult skeleton was discovered 

 in cave No. 6, one other having been previously found there; 

 and near to it, and almost at its feet, were the remains of a 

 youth of about fifteen years of age. The bones of another 

 child w r ere found on the 27th of January, 1874, in cavern 

 No. 1. 



According to Dr. Riviere, the discovery of this new skele- 

 ton confirms the existence of certain supposed rites among 

 these early people, the red color of the bones, and of the hearth 

 upon which they rest, being due to the presence of iron ore, 

 which had been apparently heaped up purposely over the 

 body. There were also implements of bone and stone, orna- 

 ments of shell and of perforated teeth, as in the other case. 



The skull presents much the same peculiarities as in the 

 other instances, being decidedly dolichocephalic, with a pow- 

 erful lower jaw, prominent thick teeth, and the muscular at- 

 tachments strongly marked. Around the head were numer- 

 ous shells belonging to JVctssa, Buccinum, Columbella, and 

 Cyprma, and with some canine teeth of the stag, both shells 

 and teeth occurring in very large numbers. 



Besides these, there were bones, teeth, and mandibles of 

 ruminants, pachyderms, and rodents, some fragments of deer 

 antlers, etc. 1 B, May 17, 1874, 97. 



TREE-VILLAGES OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. 



The report of the cruise of the British ship Blanche among 

 the Solomon Islands gives an account of a visit to one of the 

 tree-villages peculiar to Isabel Island, one of the group. At the 

 summit of a rocky mountain, rising almost perpendicularly 

 to the height of about eight hundred feet, is situated a grove 



