676 Chronicles of Science. | Oct., 
The uncertainty as to the zoological position of the last-named 
animal has reference only to the order, for it certainly belongs, as do 
the orders Labyrinthodontia and Archegosauria, to the class AMPHIBIA 
(included with the Repritia by Dr. Dawson); and as regards the new 
order Microsauria, Dr. Dawson states that it “may be regarded as 
allied, on the one hand, to certain of the humbler lizards, as the gecko 
or agama, and on the other, to the tailed batrachians.” If this be so, 
Hylonomus must have a special interest for the naturalist, as forming 
a connecting link between two classes of the vertebrata. But the 
author also states that the genus Hylerpeton, though referred by him, 
with some doubt, to the order Archegosauria, “ may possibly be a link 
of connection between the Microsauria and the Archegosauria.” 
As these fossils were discovered in association with a mollusk 
belonging to a genus (Pupa) which exists at the present day, and to an 
order (Pulmonata) not otherwise known to occur in beds below the 
Purbeck, and in the same strata as a myriapod, whose next oldest 
known representative was found in Jurassic strata, their examination 
and description naturally led Dr. Dawson to discuss their bearing upon 
Mr. Darwin’s hypothesis of the origin of species. Accordingly the 
author devotes a chapter to this subject, with which, of course, he has 
no great sympathy ; and we imagine that he refers to this part of his 
memoir when, in his introduction, he threatens to indulge in gossip 
without scruple, for we have certainly failed to detect the promised 
“gossip ” anywhere else, 
The first part of Professor Owen’s “Memoir on the Cavern of 
Bruniquel and its Organic Contents” was read. before the Royal Society 
on June 9th; it contained descriptions of the human remains found in 
the cave, and an account of the circumstances under which they were 
discovered ; the contemporaneity of the human remains with those of 
the extinct and other animals, and the bone and flint implements with 
which they are associated, being inferred from the similarity of their 
position and. relations in the surrounding breccia, and from the chemi- 
cal constitution of the human bones corresponding with that of the 
other animal remains. 
Several small portions of human crania were noticed by the author, 
and more particularly the hinder portion of a cranium, with several 
other parts of the same skeleton, which were so situated as to indicate 
that the body had been interred in a crouching posture ; also, an 
almost entire calvarium was described, and then compared with 
different types of skull, being found to correspond best with the 
Celtic type. Certain jaws and teeth of individuals were next noticed, 
especially the lower jaw and teeth of an adult, and upper and lower 
jaws of children, the latter showing the characters of certain deciduous 
teeth. 
The geological value of this large and unique collection of fossil 
human remains depends entirely upon its age, and as that can be 
determined only after a careful examination of the bones associated 
with them, we must be content to wait patiently for the reading of the 
second part of this memoir before arriving at a conclusion. 
