HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



179 



ood by the inhabitants, — the ox, deer, &c., and 

 many birds. They seem to have made no kind of 

 ' midden' or refuse-heap, but just to have thrown 

 down the bones and let them accumulate on the 

 floor. However, if they cooked their food, that was 

 some advance in civilization. But the most in- 

 teresting discovery of all (in some respects) has 

 been made since I was there. 



It is comparatively very rare to find any human 

 bones in these cave deposits, partlj% perhaps, on 

 account of the people having been usually buried in 

 the ground, and left to decay, instead of being pre- 

 served as the animal remains were, under shelter, 

 and iu such a preservative substance as limestone. 



However, last year in one of these caves there 

 was found, buried under the debris of rock, an entire 

 human skeleton, lying on its side, with the feet 

 ■ crossed, and the hands up to the face. The head 

 rested on a stone. It is thought by some to be the 

 skeleton of a rather tall woman. The thigh-bone 

 measures 47 centimetres (about ISHnches), perhaps 

 slightly longer than the average. 



Curiously, the skull is of a dark red colour, 

 different from the rest of the body, which fact is, as 

 far as I know, quite unaccounted for. The teeth 

 are well preserved. Round about the body were 

 found a number of shells, each pierced with a small 

 hole. They may have formed some ornament. 



When I said buried under the debris, I do not 

 mean regularly interred ; every circumstance points 

 to the fact that the person died here, probably in 

 sleep, and either was covered over where he or she 

 lay by human agency, or that the process of nature 

 in disintegrating the rock, and the'general deposition 

 of soil, has done so in course of time. 



I have some photographs of the skeleton in situ ; 

 but, though the bones are untouched, the French 

 have, with characteristic ingenuity, arranged a sort 

 of magic circle of flint implements round it. 

 as Being so complete, and having been carefully 

 noted before being disturbed, it forms a very valu- 

 able addition to ancient cave-lore. 



Curiously enougli, this cave-dweller became lite- 

 rally a bone of contention between the two nations, 

 having been found in Italian soil, but by a French, 

 man, M. Bivicre, authorized by the French Govern- 

 ment. However, the French managed to get it, 

 and it is now safely lodged in the Natural History 

 Museum in Paris. 



I have now briefly stated the facts about these 

 ■caves. As regards abstract speculations as to 

 the age of this skeleton, for instance, it is beyond my 

 power to offer a suggestion, and, with the present 

 state of knowledge, I should say the theories of 

 any geologist would be but vague guesses. 

 There may have been, moreover, a considerable 

 space of time between the last animal and the first 

 •human inhabitant. 



Of course the interest of the subject really lies iu 



these questions ; but they cannot yet be answered. 

 I hope, however, the time is not misspent in 

 learning something of the data of such interesting 

 problems. H. A. Fkeehan, A.R.I.B.A. 



A DENTIGEROUS BIRD. 



{Odontopteryx toliajpiciis, Owen.) 



pROFESSOR OWEN, at a recent meeting of 

 -■- the Geological Society of London, gave an 

 account of the skull of a dentigerous bird from the 

 London Clay of Sheppey. The specimen consisted 

 of the brain-case, with the basal portion of both 

 jaws. The author described in detail the structure 

 and relations of the various bones composing this 

 skull, which is rendered especially remarkable by 

 the denticulation of the alveolar margins of the 

 jaws, to W'hich its generic appellation refers. The 

 denticulations, which are intrinsic parts of the bone 

 bearing them, are of two sizes, -the smaller ones about 

 half a line in length, the larger ones from two to three 

 lines. The latter are separated by intervals of about 

 half an inch, each of which is occupied by several 

 of the smaller denticles. All the denticles are of 

 a triangular or compressed conical form, the larger 

 ones resembling laniaries. Sections of the denticles 

 show under the microscope the unmistakable cha- 

 racters of bird bone. The length of the skull be- 

 hind the fronto-nasal suture is 2 inches 5 lines; and 

 from the proportions of the fragment of the upper 

 mandible preserved, the author concluded that the 

 total length of the perfect skull could not be less 

 than between 5 and 6 inches. The author proceeded 

 to compare the fossil, which he declared to present 

 strictly avian characters, with those of birds in 

 which the beak is longer than the true cranium, a 

 character which occurs as a rule in aquatic birds. 

 He stated that none of the Waders have the nostrils 

 so remote from the orbits as in Odontopteryx ; and 

 this character, with the absence of the superorbital 

 gland-pit, limits the comparison to the Totipalmates 

 aud Lamellirostrals. The former are excluded by 

 their not having the orbit bounded by a hind wall 

 as^in Odontopteryx ; and in this and other peculiari- 

 ties the fossil seems to approach most nearly to 

 the Anatidae, in the near allies of which, the 

 Goosanders and Mergancers, the beak is furnished 

 with strong pointed denticulations. In these, how- 

 ever, the tooth-like processes belong to the horny 

 bill only, and the author stated that the production 

 of the alveolar margin into bony teeth is peculiar, 

 so far as he knows, to Odontopteryx. He concluded, 

 from the consideration of all its characters, " that 

 Odontopteryx was a warm-blooded, feathered biped, 

 with wings ; and further, that it was web-footed 

 and a fish-eater, aud that in the catching of its 

 slippery prey it was assisted by this pterosauroid 



