16 The Twenty-third General Meeting. 
considerations. The forms of the implements are indeed unlike those 
which characterise the Neolithic period. But although it is a re- 
markable fact, and one the significance of which must not be over- — 
looked, that while on the one hand the forms of the Palzolithic 
period are entirely wanting in our tumuli; so on the other, the 
polished implements, the finely-carved spear-heads of the Neolithic 
period, have never yet been found in the drift gravel. Nevertheless, 
the antiquity does not depend on these considerations. The three 
reasons which have induced geologists and antiquaries to ascribe so 
great an age to these remains are—firstly, the mammalian remains 
with which they are associated; secondly, and still more, the nature 
and position of the deposits in which they occur ; lastly, and most 
of all, the changes of climate which are indicated by the facts. The 
animal remains which characterise this period are certainly of very 
great interest. Who would have thought, not many years ago, that 
the remarkable fauna to which I have just alluded had ever inhabited 
our valleys and wandered in our forests and over our downs. A 
striking illustration of this fauna is that discovered in the Cave of 
Kesserloch, near Thayngen, in Switzerland, recently explored by 
Mr. Merk, whose memoir has been translated into English by Mr, 
Lee. Not only, however, is this fauna remarkable from the list of 
species, but also with reference to their relative abundance. Thus, 
the Alpine and the field hare were both present, but the former was 
by far the most abundant. The reindeer, again, was fifty times as 
numerous as the red deer; but, perhaps, the most surprising case is 
that of the foxes. About eighty individuals were represented, and 
of these 45°50 belonged to the Canis fulvus, or North American fox, 
20°30 to the Arctic fox (Canis lagopus), which has also been met 
with in England by Mr Busk under similar circumstances, and will, 
probably, be found to have been sometimes mistaken for the common 
fox ; while of the common European fox only two or three could be 
determined. In other respects the fauna of this ancient period is 
interesting as tending to connect forms now distinct. Thus, according 
to Mr. Busk, than whom there is no higher authority on the Pleisto- 
cene mammalia, some remains of bears found in the bone caves are 
identical with those of the American grizzly bear, and the ancient. 
