142 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April 



horse, &c, in the Sewalik Fauna, and with the further important 

 fact that the plains of the valley of the Ganges had undergone no 

 late submergence, and passed through no stage of glacial refrigera- 

 tion to interrupt the previous tranquil order of physical conditions, 

 Dr. Falconer and Capt. Cautley were so impressed with the con- 

 viction that the human race might have been early inhabitants of 

 India, that they were constantly on the look out for the upturning 

 of the relics of man or of his works from the miocene strata of the 

 Sewalik Hills. In their account of the gigantic tortoise, after dis- 

 cussing the palseontologieal and mythological bearings of the case, 

 they sum up by stating, — " The result at which we have arrived is, 

 that there are fair grounds for entertaining the belief that the 

 Colossochelys Atlas may have lived down to an early epoch of the 

 human period, and become extinct since." 



Ten years later, Dr. Falconer resumed the subject in India, 

 while investigating the fossil remains of the Jumna. In May, 

 1858, having the same inquiry in view, while occupied with his 

 cave researches, he communicated a letter to the Council of the 

 Geological Society, which suggested and led to the exploration 

 of the Brixham cave, and the discovery in it of flint-implements 

 of great antiquity, associated with the bones of extinct animals. 

 In conjunction with Prof. Ramsay and Mr. Pengelly, he drew up 

 a report on the subject, which, communicated in the autumn of the 

 same year to the Councils of the Royal and Geological Societies, 

 excited the interest of men of science in the case. Following up 

 the same object, he immediately afterwards proceeded to Sicily, to 

 examine the ossiferous caves there, and discovered the ' Grotto di 

 Maccagnone,' in which flint implements of great antiquity were 

 found adhering to the roof-matrix, mingled with remains of 

 hyasnas now extinct in Europe. Having examined the collection 

 of M. Boucher de Perthes, on his route to Sicily, he was impressed 

 with the authenticity of some of the flint implements discovered in 

 the valley of the Somme, and urged his friend, Mr. Prestwich, who 

 is of the highest authority in this branch of geology, to proceed 

 there, and investigate the conditions of the case. Thus, in 1859, 

 the subject of the antiquity of the human race, which had pre- 

 viously been generally discredited among men of science, was again 

 launched upon fresh evidence in both the stratigraphical and 

 cave aspects. Since then it has been actively followed up by 

 numerous inquirers; and Dr. Falconer himself was contemplating, 

 and had indeed actually commenced, a work on ' Primeval Man.' 



