BIED-BONES FOUND IN THE CAVES. 243 



group have been noticed in prehistoric Stations such as Rallus crex, found by 

 M. J. Desnoyers in the breccia of Montmorency, and by M. Ramorino in that of 

 Verezzi (in Italy). 



46. THE MOORHEN. Gallinula chloropus, var. major. La Poule d'eau. 



A humerus from Massat (Ariege) seems to me to agree with that of the 

 common Moorhen, though it is a little larger than any of those of that species 

 which I have examined. 



47. THE PRIMITIVE CRANE. Grus primigenia, nobis. La Grue primitive. 



M. E. Lartet collected, in 1863, in the Cave at Les Eyzies, together with re- 

 mains of Reindeer, Aurochs, &c., the lower portion of a tibia, which had been 

 separated from the body of the bone, not by an accidental fracture, but evidently 

 by the hand of Man and by means of a sharp instrument which played the part 

 of a saw. The fragment bears also numerous longitudinal grooves made by an 

 analogous instrument, probably for the purpose of detaching needles or arrow- 

 points. M. E. Lartet had the kindness to send this fossil to me; and I easily 

 recognized that it came from a species of the genus Grus : it presents all the 

 characters which are special to that division ; and there can be no doubt about 

 the generic determination. But if one asks to what species it belongs, we re- 

 mark that this tibia cannot have come from Grus cinerea, in which the prin- 

 cipal leg-bone is much thinner. The tibia from Les Eyzies is even much larger 

 than that of the Australian Crane. I have likewise compared it with those 

 of the Mantchurian Crane and Grus antigone; and it most nearly resembles 

 the leg-bone of the latter, though the dimensions of the fossil are greater. 

 It is these considerations which have determined me to propose for the Crane 

 of the Caves a new specific division, and to designate this bird under the name 

 of Grus primigenia. It was a species remarkable for its large size, and has 

 gradually disappeared before the encroachments of Man or the changes which 

 have happened in the biological conditions, just as the Aurochs is now going, and 

 as Bos primigenius and so many other species have gone. 



Since the time when this determination was established, it has been confirmed 

 by other discoveries. A portion of a humerus has been found at La Madelaine, 

 cut a little above the articulation, by means of a flint, and having deep grooves 

 similar to those observed on the tibia and apparently made with the same intention. 

 A fragment of a lower mandible found at Gourdan shows that Grus primigenia 

 approached nearer to G. antigone than to G. cinerea. 



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