230 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Eig. 1C5 afFords iis au illustration of quite another 

 class of stone implements, of neolithic date, and 

 that perhaps low down. It is a polished stone 

 hammer, four inches in length, made of granite, 

 and was found along with flint knives, arrow- 

 heads, &c., at Caithness. This tj'pe of stone 

 hammer is very prevalent in Scandinavia, and even 

 in North America. Eig. 1C6 gives us an example 

 of au ancient and useful curved knife, formed of 

 flint, which has been chipped out with the utmost 

 skill and care to the above form. This type is 

 almost peculiar to Britain, although specimens have 

 been obtained from Denmark approaching very near 

 to it. The intellectual development — if we may use 

 the word — which pould manipulate such examples 

 of industrial art as this and fig. 1C7, from so brittle 

 an article as flint, must have been tolerably high. 

 Both^these specimens are from Yorkshire. 



Fig. 1G7. Flint Arrow-head. 



In tig. 168 we go back again to palaeolithic times, 

 as the reader will apprehend from its resemblance 

 to the first example ; for this is a good repre- 

 sentation of tlie more ancient stone weapons, and is 

 from the celebrated Kent's Cavern, near Torquay. 

 If the ancient character of the valley gravels, with 

 their contained implements, carries back the anti- 

 quity of the human race, the cave weapons found 

 beneath the thick and slowly-accumulating stalag- 

 mite of the floor do even more. At the late meeting 

 of the British Association, Messrs. Pengellj', Boyd- 

 Dawkins, and others, expressed their opinion that, 

 from the specimens found in Kent's Cavern and 

 their position, man must have appeared on the 

 earth before the glacial epoch ! Eor more elaborate 

 details as to this ancient cavern, as well as to the 

 more modern ones of Somersetshire and the south 



of France, we must refer our readers to Mr. Evans's 

 book. Eig. 1G9 is the portion of a flint core from 

 Kent's Cavern, showing how the ancient knives 

 were made by striking off flakes, exactly as may 

 still be seen in the manufacture of gun flints in 

 Norfolk and Suffolk. 



Fig. l6s. PalKoIithic Flint Implement from Kent's Cavern. 



Fig. 1C9. Flint Core. 



Space forbids us to do justice to the merits of 

 Mr. Evans's book, which contains no fewer than five 

 hundred woodcuts, besides plate illustrations. It 

 is by far the fullest and most exhaustive work of its 

 kind that has yet appeared, whilst the style in 

 which it is written, although terse enough to show 

 the autlior is in earnest, is nevertheless clear and 

 attractive. Eew books, during the present year, 

 or for many to come, will deservedly attract more 

 notice than that we have been endeavouring to 

 introduce to our readers. 



J. E. T. 



THE "EMPEROR" MOTH. 

 (Saturnia Pavonia-mimr.) 



THIS beautiful insect is deservedly called the 

 " Emperor " of moths ; in fact, it occupies the 

 same position among the Noctunii as the Purple 

 Emperor {A. Iris) does among the Papilionidce. 



This moth is one of the most, perhaps the most, 

 remarkable of its species in all the stages of its 



