242 NATURAL SCIENCE. April. 



poons, and needles, hearths and traces of cookery, and worked flints of 

 the patterns commonly found in deposits of the reindeer period. A 

 few sketches of horse and reindeer, incised on flat pieces of bone or 

 limestone, have also been discovered. Bed 5 has as yet yielded no 

 trace of man, but is extremely rich in remains of rodents, like those 

 characteristic of the extinct German " steppe-fauna " of Professor 

 Nehring, who has also identified the specimens from Schweizersbild. 

 Directly beneath lies a mass of rolled pebbles, forming part of the 

 widespread sheet of flood and moraine gravel usually referred to the 

 latest glaciation of the Rhine valley. 



These excavations show that part at least of the Palaeolithic 

 deposits are newer than the last glaciation of the district. We have, 

 however, no account of the contents of bed 3, which may possibly 

 show a less marked recurrence of arctic conditions, such as seems to 

 have taken place in Britain after the Palaeolithic period and before the 

 incoming of Neolithic man. The oldest types of Palaeolithic imple- 

 ments, and the large extinct mammals, such as elephant and rhinoceros^ 

 usually associated with them, have not been found at Schweizersbild, 

 and it is still a moot point whether they should be looked for above or 

 below the moraine gravels which mark the climax of the Glacial 

 period. It is satisfactory to learn that half the area under the rock- 

 shelter at Schweizersbild remains to be excavated, so that there is 

 still a possibility of clearing up these doubtful points. We shall 

 watch with great interest the results of Dr. Niiesch's excavations 

 during the coming season, after which we hope to receive a fuller 

 report. 



Early Flowering of Plants. 



Now that the season has begun, we would like to suggest the 

 advisability of a more scientific method in the observation of dates of 

 flowering of plants. One constantly comes across notes recording the 

 exceptionally early appearance of certain flowers. It is forgotten, 

 however, that the premature opening of the flowers may often mean 

 death to the plant, or at any rate a serious waste of material. The 

 production of seed is the final end to which all parts of the plant are 

 modified. If by early flowering the plant is enabled to seed more 

 freely, the date of flowering will tend to become earlier and earlier ; 

 but if the flowering is premature, and is not followed by the 

 formation of seed, then the date will become later and later, as the 

 too hasty individuals are killed off. 



Observers should not pick these early flowers, they should mark 

 the specimens and return later on to see whether they have, or have 

 not, produced any seed. No one appears yet to have noted whether 

 the buttercups and dead-nettles, which flower more or less all through 

 the winter, produce seed from the winter flowers. 



