50 BULLETIN OF THE LIVERPOOL MUSEUMS. 
that it will be found that the stone implement question will have to be 
studied on its merits and independently of the familiar classification of more 
northern lands, and I shall not be surprised if it should turn out that the 
mass of so-called Paleolithic types found in various parts of the African 
continent are in reality of comparatively recent date.” 
On the 31st May of the same year (1900) Sir John Evans read a short 
paper before the Royal Society of London, with the title of “Paleolithic Man 
in Africa,” in order to controvert my views and substantiate his own. “In 
April, 1896, just four years ago,” he said, “I ventured to call the attention of 
the Society (Roy. Soc. Proc., ‘Vol. LX., p. 19) to some paleolithic implements 
found in Somaliland by Mr. H. W. Seton-Karr. In doing so, I pointed out the 
absolute identity in form of these implements with those from the valley of 
the Somme and numerous other pleistocene deposits in North-western 
Europe and elsewhere ; and I cited others from the high land adjoining the 
valley of the Nile and from other places in Northern and Southern Africa. 
I was at the same time careful to point out that though there could be no 
doubt as to this identity in form, no fossil mammalian or other remains had 
been found with these African implements. I did not, however, hesitate in 
claiming them as paleolithic. 
“Since the publication of my short note, an extensive collection of stone 
implements formed in Egypt by Mr. H. W. Seton-Karr has been acquired by 
the Mayer Museum at Liverpool. I have not had an opportunity of examin- 
ing the specimens, but a detailed account (Bull. Liverp. Muss., I., Nos. 3 and 
4, Jan. 20, 1900; Nature, April 19, 1900, p. 597) of them, with numerous 
illustrations, has been published by the Director of the Liverpool Museums, 
Dr. H. O. Forbes. The majority of the implements are of Neolithic Age or 
even of more recent date, and with the account of these I need not here 
concern myself ; but the author is at considerable pains to dispute my view 
that the instruments of palzolithic forms belong to the Paleolithic Period. 
As he says, Mr. Seton-Karr’s statement that he sometimes found spear-heads 
‘on the ground surrounded by amass of flakes and chips as though the 
people had dropped their work and fled, is very suggestive and important. 
He adds, however, that ‘one such occurrence is almost sufficient in itself, I 
venture to think, to disprove the high antiquity claimed by Sir John Evans 
for these implements.’ 
“Were it certain that the so-called spear-heads were really of paleolithie 
form, and had the flakes and chips been fitted on to them so as to reconstitute 
the original blocks of flint, as has been done in the case of undoubted paleo- 
lithic specimens by Mr. Spurrell and Mr. Worthington Smith, the question 
would still remain to be discussed as to the condition of the localities in 
relation to subierial denudation. 
“Tt is, however, hardly necessary to discuss these points, as some recent 
discoveries made in Algeria will, I venture to think, go a long way towards 
settling the question. aL propose, therefore, very briefly to state their nature. 
About sixty miles to the south-west of the town of Oran, and about ten 
miles to the north of Tlemcen, on the plateau of Remchi, about a mile to the 
south of the River Isser, lies a small lake known as Lac Karar. It oceupies 
a depression in lacustrine limestone of comparatively recent geological date, 
superimposed on beds of Lower Miocene Age. The level of the water, which 
is some 15° centigrade warmer than that of the ordinary springs of the dis- 
trict, and appears to be derived from some deep-seated source, seems to be 
about 600 feet higher than that of the River Isser. The lake originally filled 
a much larger part of the depression than it now does, and from its old bed 
a considerable amount of material has of late years been extracted for the 
