178 PORTRAIT OF THE RATEL. 



late M. E. Lartel to have been extracted by a work- 

 man from one of Mr. H. Christy's diggings in the 

 caves of Dordogne. 



" In M. G-. de Mortillet's Promenades Prehis- 

 toriques d V Exposition Universelle, 1867 (Ma- 

 teriaux pour I'Histoire de I'Homme, vol. iii., p. 201), 

 this specimen, referred to as being exhibited among 

 others from the caves of the Department of the 

 Dordogne, and belonging to M. Peccadeau de 1'Isle, 

 is described in these words : ' La piece capitale 

 est une lame de bois du renne, troue'e pour suspen- 

 sion, portant une gravure tres-nette d'un animal 

 qui a un peu le museau carre des hippotames, mais 

 qu'il est fort difficile de determiner exactement." 



" The object itself is a blade-like piece of reindeer 

 antler, perforated near one end, and bearing an 

 incised outline of a hairy quadruped, with heavy 

 head and large tail. 



" To this figure the glutton, Gulo luscus (Linn.), 

 most nearly answers, as indeed the late M. Lartel 

 always thought. The hairy saddle on the back of 

 the figure very nearly coincides with the outline of 

 the ' blackish dorsal disk ' (Dr. J. E. Gray, ' On 

 the Mustelidse' Proceedings, Zoolog. Soc., 1865, 

 p. 120), well seen in Sehreber's figure of the glutton 

 (Sdugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mil 

 Beschreibungen,iiL, 1779, pi. 2); and distinguish- 

 able in the more lively picture of the glutton in 



