ANCIENT REMAINS OF MAN HKDLICKA. 509 



As to the original restoration of the skull, it appears that the 

 changes called for by very detailed and many-sided further study, 

 will be relatively small; and "there are reasons for believing that 

 the individual was a young adult, and possibly a female, for the fea- 

 tures that present secondary sexual characters in modern skulls are 

 quite indefinite in these fragments." 



Notes on an interesting discussion follow the report. There seems 

 to be still some doubt as to the teeth belonging all to the same skull. 

 As to the age of the remains, it can not be earlier than Pleistocene; 

 according to Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, this was clearly proved by the 

 presence in the Piltdown deposits "of an antler of red deer {Cervus 

 elaphus)^ a species unlaiown in the Pliocene of Europe and abun- 

 dant in the Pleistocene and later strata." 



Eegrettably, at the time of the writer's visit in England, in the 

 spring of 1912, the specimen was not yet available for examination 

 by outsiders, and so no original opinion can be given concerning its 

 status. It represents doubtless one of the most interesting finds re- 

 lating to man's antiquity, though seemingly the last word has not 

 yet been said as to its date and especially as to the physical char- 

 acteristics of the being it stands for. 



HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS. 



One of the oldest thoroughly authenticated skeletal relics so far 

 discovered and attributable to a primitive human being, is the price- 

 less specimen known as the Mauer jaw. This precious document of 

 man's evolution is deposited in the Paleontological Institute of 

 Heidelberg. For its preservation and thorough description we are 

 indebted to Dr. Otto Schoetensack,^ professor of Anthropology'- at 

 Heidelberg University, who for years had been watching the finds in 

 the sand pits near Mauer which eventually yielded the specimen. 

 But considerable credit in this connection is due also to Herr Joseph 

 Rosch, of Mauer, the owner of the sand pits in question, who saved 

 the specimen from destruction, immediately called Prof. Schoeten- 

 sack's attention to its discovery, and eventually donated it unselfishly 

 to science. 



The specimen, the lower jaw of an adult male, was discovered on 

 the 21st of October, 1907, by two laborers. Both of these were still 

 employed in the quarry at the time of the writer's visit, in June 1912, 

 and they readily related, in company with Mr. Rosch, all the circum- 

 stances of the find. 



The deposits in which the specimen was discovered are located near 

 the village of Mauer, which lies in the picturesque Elsenz Valley, 6 



1 Recently deceased. 



