18 PROFESSOR T. MCKENNY HUGHES, M.A. 



mammals. Buckland's view was, as I believe, far more 

 nearly in accordance with facts than the views of those who 

 have argued for the pre-Glacial age of some of these caverns, 

 which contain only the later group of early Pleistocene 

 mammals. It agrees with the view that there has been a 

 great submergence since the occupation of some of the known 

 Pleistocene caves, but is less wild than the theory that the 

 deposits of that submergence are Glacial because they contain 

 a large percentage of material derived from older Glacial 

 deposits. I have already combated the view that the contents 

 of the Victoria Cave * were pre-Glacial, and I have recentlyf 

 examined the evidence upon which the theory that the con- 

 tents of the caves of Ffynon Beuno were pre-Glacial because 

 they were anterior to the submergence which followed the 

 Glacial age. This view was far more untenable than that of 

 Dr. Buckland, for its advocates held that if the sea of the last 

 submergence washed the mouth of these caves after they had 

 received the deposits containing the Palaeolithic remains now 

 found in them, that in itself would contitute a proof that 

 those remains were pre-Glacial. 



It is a very curious thing that, although we find such 

 abundant evidence of Palaeolithic man in caves as well as in 

 river deposits, there should be so few remains of his bones. 

 Perhaps it was because such little care was taken of the dead 

 that all traces of them were soon destroyed by beasts of prey. 

 However, the fact remains ; and, therefore, it is of great 

 importance to inquire into any alleged occurrence of human 

 bones of Palaeolithic date. One such announcement was made 

 some years ago, when it was reported that a whole human 

 skeleton had been found with the remains of the mammoth 

 and other extinct animals in a cave on the coast near Mentone. 

 The skeleton was brought to Paris, where I saw it. In a 

 photograph which was shown to me soon after the discovery 

 there were two Neolithic implements lying beside the body, 

 but these were not exhibited with it in Paris. The body was 

 lying on its side in a red earth, with few fragments of any 

 kind in it. There was a quantity of oxide of iron about the 

 head, which might have been the remains either of ornaments 

 in pyrites or of a pigment formed of reddle. 



Some years afterwards I had an opportuity of examining 

 the place where it was said to have been found, and of con- 



* Trans. Viet. In$t. March, 1879, vol. xiii. p. 316. 

 t Q. J. G. S. (Nov. 17, 1886), vol. xliii. 1887, p. 73, 



