182 SCIENTIFIC LABORS OF EDWARD EaRTET. 



refuse, the lacustriau habitations, &c. The reindeer, on the contrary, are 

 still ill existence, as also the urns or bison of Poland. 



M. Lartet divides thei^eriod of primitive humanity into four ages: the 

 age of the bear of the caves, the age of the elephant and of the rhinoce- 

 ros, of the reindeer and of the Poland bison or auroch, but these sys- 

 tematic divisions are applicable only to a limited region. In Lithuania, 

 the aurochs still exist, as in the time of Ctesar the reindeer was still an 

 inhabitant of the hereynian forest. 



Such were the facts disclosed by M. Lartet by his examination of 

 the cave of Auriguac. In his other excavations all his sagacity was 

 called into play by the figures of animals sculptm-ed and engraved — the 

 first artistic efforts of the men of the caves. It would be unjust not to 

 mention in this connection the name of the English savan Christy, who 

 displayed so much zeal in the explorations of Perigord, and who pre- 

 pared, with M. Lartet's assistance, a beautifid work entitled '■'-RcUquiw 

 Aquitaiiicw.''^ 



It was in association with M. Christy, that M. Lartet calculated the 

 zoological population of most of the grottoes of Perigord. " A race, 

 aboriginal or otherwise," he says, "inhabited this region in the same 

 period with the reindeer, the bison, the wild goat, the chamois, animals, 

 some of which have now representatives only in extreme climates, while 

 a few descendants of others are found on the summits of the Alps and 

 the Pyrenees. These people were not acquainted with the use of metals, 

 they lived by hunting, and no animal was domesticated by them. Their 

 sculpture indicates great artistic feeling." 



We are indebted to this artistic talent for a very satisfactory repre- 

 sentation upon an ivory tablet of the Ulephas primigenius. This re- 

 markable specimen came from the care of the Madeleine. The figure 

 of the reindeer is found engraved upon many of the bones from Perigord. 



Ail the facts relative to the caves of the southwest part of France 

 were to have been collected in a large volume by MM. Christy and 

 Lartet, but unfortunately this interesting book was not completed, in 

 consequence of the premature death of its authors. The parts published 

 are filled with origiual research in regard to the caves of the valley of 

 Vezere, the ancient fauna of Perigord, the grotto of Cromaguon, the 

 exploration of which w^as made by a son of M. Lartet, and the human 

 fossils of Cromagnon, &c. 



M. Lartet also examined the bones of the caves of the Maritime Alps 

 and of llerault. He found in the cave of Mars, about two miles from 

 Yence, a new species of bear, strongly resembling in some respects the 

 polar bear ; this bear was associated with the leopard and the Bhiiioceros 

 MerJc'd. From the rhinoceros M. Lartet endeavored to determine the 

 characteristics of the quaternary rhinoceros, of m hich the aflinities are 

 very obscure. 



In conclusion I would call attention to a memoir upon the fossil 

 musk-ox, a portion of the skull of which was found in the diluvium of 



