236 Miscellaneous. 



midst of some large stones there was another complete cranium, but 

 of this the parietal bone is fractured. "We commenced with the 

 frontal bone of a child. We have also half a dozen lower jaws, and 

 nearly all the bones, even to the sternum, the sacrum, the bones of 

 the tarsus and carpus, the phalanges and separate teeth. The bones 

 are completely destroyed or fall to powder where the water penetrates 

 during winter — that is to say, where it soaks through the walls. The 

 other bones, which are in a dry state, are in a perfect state of preser- 

 vation. 



These human bones occur side by side with bones of a Bear (not 

 Vrsus spelceus, but more nearly allied to the existing species), of the 

 Ox, Horse, Reindeer, Beaver, Glutton, Goat (it might be taken for 

 our domestic Goat), and several Carnivora, a mass of Birds, Fishes, 

 (Trout and Pike), Snails {Helix pomatia,H.lapicida,H.arbustorum, 

 and H . cellaria), and the Unio batava, which, like the Helices, still 

 exists in the neighbourhood. With these bones there occur flint 

 implements of the most primitive form, fragments of charcoal, cal- 

 cined bones, and fragments of a very coarse pottery. We have also 

 found some worked antlers of the Reindeer, but no appearance of 

 designs. 



There has been no disturbance of the soil, and there is no external 

 communication except in front ; the earth and stones which fill the 

 o-rotto are placed in a plane slightly inclined towards the bottom, 

 and it is evident to all those who see these objects in their place 

 that the human bones were deposited at the same time with those of 

 the animals. 



After some observations on the progress of the excavations, and 

 the means adopted for preventing this interesting deposit from being 

 tampered with, Professor Van Beneden proceeds as follows : — " I send 

 you sketches of the two crania above mentioned, to serve until I 

 can send a photograph of them, and afterwards casts. You will see 

 that No. 2 is as brachycephalic and prognathous as it can be ; No. 1 

 is orthognathous, and the cranium is more elongated behind. The 

 outlines present no less difference. The prognathous skull No. 2 is 

 truncated in front ; the other is regularly arched, and exhibits the 

 parietal swellings more towards the front. I may remark also that the 

 cranium No. 1 is by far the best-preserved, its bones being as hard as 

 if it had been buried but a little while, whilst the bony substance of 

 No. 2 is very friable. They were nevertheless side by side. It is the 

 well-preserved cranium (No. 1) that was half filled with unrolled 

 pebbles and fragments of charcoal, with a metacarpal bone and 

 some fragments of bones. What interpretation is to be given of these 

 facts ? Has No. 1 succeeded No. 2, or did they live together 1 You 

 will remark that the prognathous skull has a finer cranial capacity 

 than the other." 



In communicating to the Academy of Sciences the above extracts 

 from Professor Van Beneden's letters to him, M. de Quatrefages 

 remarks that the prognathism of No. 2 seems exactly to correspond 

 with a fact of the same nature, exhibited by an upper jaw from a 

 cave of the Aveyron, presented to the Anthropological Society by 



