I1:J FL1:T11J-K MiTlis UN llAlilTs UF XAbMAMAN AilUlUcilNES. 



which were Bhuped with the view of ropru'seuLiiig a certain 

 object. These objects ai"e : — 



(1) A four-footed auiuiai. 



(2) The huiiiau f;ice- 



(3) A bird's head. 



(4) A snake. 



Specimens of this kind are pretty rare, but from the 

 first their peculiar shape induced me to set them aside 

 from the others. 



Pi'of. Schweinfurth described in an interesting paper 

 on the cave deposits of Sicily (8) certain specimens as figure 

 stones (Pierres figures, pierres figurees), which reminded 

 me at once of the Tasmanian ones. Prof. Schweinfurth 

 states that the Sicily specimens mostly represent heads of 

 animals. Much rarer are complete figures, but he did not 

 notice any specimens representing human heads or figures. 



The figures he gives of these specimens are, however, 

 not very convincing, and it requires some stretch of 

 imagination to recognise in figures A, B, C, D, E, F, 

 PI. X., the heads of birds. The most convincing are figures 

 L and M, PI. XL, though even here a certain imagination 

 is required. However, I do not wish to discuss the proba- 

 bility of Prof- Schweinfurth's views; all I want to point 

 out is, that if the hypothesis with regard to the Sicily speci- 

 mens be correct, tlie view I have taken with regard to the 

 specimens here described is still more so, because their out- 

 line is much more suggestive than that of the Sicily speci- 

 mens. 



I am fully aware that it is a very delicate siibject I am 

 dealing with, and I particularly wish to point out that T 

 do not consider it more than a working hy]iothesis. T 

 shall be very pleased if anybody else can suggest a better 

 one, because if we accept it we admit that the Tasmanian 

 aborigines had already developed a certain sense of art. 

 This feeling induced them to reproduce in the unwieldy 

 stone certain objects with which they were familiar, ani- 

 mals in the first instance. 



(8) Ueber diis Hoehlen PaUeollthlkum von Slclllen, Zeltschr f. 

 Ithnologle. 1907, vol. 39, pt. 6, page 879. 



