696 



NATURE 



[Nw*h.MI>hlN 10, 1923 



But perhaps the most entrancing branch of prcfiLstory 

 is the study of the mural art of these very early peoples. 

 Here we are not dealing merely with " drj' l)one» " or 

 objects made for some immediate and concrete use, nor 

 indeed are we dealing, in the vast majority of cases, 

 with mere " home " decoration. Primitive man, then 

 as now, was concerned with his food supply, and the 

 art was practised as a form of sympathetic miigic. The 

 veil lifts for a moment, revealing to us the very thoughts 

 and aspirations — one might almost .say the religion — of 

 these early artists. The occurrence of prehistoric 

 ceremonial burials has further helped in this study, 

 indicating, as it probably does, something of the nature 

 of a cult of the dead. Perhaps some of the cave art 

 may be connected with this. 



The palaeolithic art for magic purposes occurs em- 

 blazoning the walls of caves. The darkness and silence 

 of these entrances to the bowels of the earth is eminently 

 suited to the production in primitive man of a state of 

 mind receptive to magic influences. There is actually 

 evidence to suggest that a priestly artist caste guided and 

 controlled these emotions. The painted and engraved 

 caves may indeed be described as prehistoric temples. 



For this art to be practised, it is clearly necessary that 

 natural caves should occur in the district. Hitherto 

 three main areas of distribution have been located, one 

 in Dordogne (France), around the village of Les Eyzies 

 on the banks of the river Vez^re, a tributary of the 

 Dordogne ; another in the Pyrenees, especiallv in the 

 department of Ari^ge ; the third in Cantabria' (North 

 Spain), and extending as far west as Asturias. It would 

 now appear that, thanks to the energy of the Abbe 



Ixmozi of Cabrercts near Cahors (Lot), a new : 

 in process of discovery. An announcement < 

 appeared in L'lllustralion of October ij, p. 354, Hit 

 article, profusely illustrated, deals with the finds of the 

 Abbt- I/emozi. It does not pretend to ' 

 exposition written by an expert. On tl- 

 an exceedingly interesting sketch is given of th' 

 archaeological work done by the AbW, which it is to Ix 

 hoped he will publish himself in due course. Not only 

 have a numl)er of prehistoric " homes " l)cen discovered 

 under overhanging rocks, many of which have yielded 

 rich industries in stone and bone, but a painted cave 

 temple, worthy to be compared with those of the 

 Dordogne, Pyrenees, and Cantabria, has also been 

 explored. 



Judging from the illustrations, the date of the art 

 would seem to be in part Aurignacian, in part lower 

 Magdalenian, but it is impossible to be j s 



point from the meagre account given. Ti 1 



figures observed apparently include reindeer, horse, 

 mammoth, bison, " negative " human hands, signs, etc. 

 Obviously much further work is required before what 

 promises to be a new and rich area is properly explored, 

 but the Abbe is to be congratulated on what he has 

 already done, and U Illustration is to be highly com- 

 mended for having brought forward his work in such 

 an excellent way. A complete survey of the district 

 around Cabrerets, with a scientific account of the 

 diggings and of the cave art, will ht eagerly awaited 

 by all prehistorians. Some reproductions of the new 

 prehistoric paintings appeared in the IllustraUd London 

 News of October 20. M. C B. 



An African Chalicothere. 

 By Dr. Chas. W. Andrkws, F.R.S. 



A SMALL collection of fossils from the neighbour- 

 ■^*- hood of Albert Nyanza has recently been sent 

 for determination to the British Museum by Mr. E. J. 

 Wayland, director of the Geological Survey of Uganda. 

 The beds from which these remains were derived are 

 of late Pliocene or, more probably, Pleistocene age, 

 since they include teeth of Hippopotamus and Phaco- 

 choerus which do not seem to be distinguishable from 

 those of recent forms : with these are bones of croco- 

 diles, Chelonia, a large Siluroid fish, and fresh- water 

 shells. 



Accompanying these remains there are two or three 

 fragments of much greater interest. The most im- 

 portant is a phalangeal bone of such peculiar form that 

 it is at once seen to belong to a member of the Ancylo- 

 poda (Chalicotheroidea). These animals are very 

 aberrant perissodactyl ungulates in which, instead of 

 hoofs, great cleft claws are developed, and the conse- 

 quent modification of the foot bones is such that even 

 a single phalangeal bone is easily recognisable. These 

 large cleft claws were known so long ago as Cuvier's 

 time, and he regarded them as belonging to a giant 

 Manis (" Pangolin gigantesque "). It was not until 

 1888 that Filhol was able to prove that they actually 

 belong to an ungulate. The group first appears in the 

 Middle Eocene of North America, and in later times it 

 spread over the northern hemisphere, remains being 



NO. 2819, VOL. 112] 



found in the Upper Miocene beds of Saraos and Pikermi. 

 and in India and China in deposits as late as the 

 Pleistocene. 



The finding of a Chalicothere in Central Africa is 

 of especial interest because a species occurs in Samos 

 associated with Samotherium, which is ven»' closely 

 similar to the Okapi, the discover)' of which a few 

 years ago attracted so much attention. It seems just 

 possible that a Chalicothere may still survive in the 

 same region and may be the basis of the persistent 

 rumours of the existence of a large bear- or hyaena- 

 like animal. For example, in a letter to Mr. M. A. C. 

 Hinton from Capt. C. R. S. Pitman, of Kenya Colony, 

 the writer inquires if anything is known of the " Nandi 

 Bear," stories of which are constantly cropping up. 

 Whatever it may turn out to be, the beast seems to be 

 nocturnal in its habits and to resemble a ven,- large 

 hyaena, an animal in which the proportions of the fore 

 and hind limbs are much as in some Chalicotheres. 



It is to be hoped that great efforts will be made to 

 settle what this creature is, since, if the suggestion made 

 above turns out to be correct, it will be a discovery of 

 far greater interest than the Okapi. It does not seem 

 at all improbable that, in such a country, even a large 

 nocturnal animal might escape notice for a long time : 

 even in England few people have ever seen a badger 

 in the wild state. 



