DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES BONE IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 13 



B. PLATE II. 



Fig. 1. A cylindrical piece of Reindeer Horn, on which, are carved two outlines of 

 Fishes, one on each side. In the figure here given, the form of the head, the 

 shape of the gills, an obscure indication of the back-fin, and the proportions 

 and general appearance permit us to refer this Fish to one of the freshwater 

 kind, probably of the Cyprinoid (Carp) family. 



The fragment is broken at both ends ; and we can scarcely form an opinion 

 as to its original use, and whether, indeed, it was an ornament or not*. 



From La Madelaine. 



Fig. 2. This is a piece of Bird's Bone, broken at both ends by old fractures ; and 

 the absence of an articular extremity makes it very difficult to attribute a 

 specific relation for this bone. Nevertheless, in spite of its broken and worn 

 condition, we may recognize the upper part of a cubitus of a very large 

 Palmipede, probably a Swan. On it is engraved the incomplete figure of a 

 four-footed Mammal standing still. By the old fracture of the fore part the 

 head has been lost; but what remains of the shoulder, rising towards the 

 withers, which join by a slight incurving the line of the back, that ends in a 

 short tail, enables us to recognize the B/eindeer, so often represented by the 

 aborigines of Pe"rigord. The four legs, but not their extremities, are shown. 

 Hatchings or indications of hair under the line of the back, at the beginning of 

 the limbs, and below the ribs, have given a kind of relief to the drawing. It is 

 not apparent for what intention this figure has been surcharged with a longi- 

 tudinal series of chevrons or zigzag lines from shoulder to haunch. The figure 

 is in other respects boldly drawn, and the contours vigorously rendered. 



This specimen, the use of which it seems impossible to indicate, was found at 

 La Madelaine. 



Fig. 3. This is also a fragment, broken at the ends, and showing at one of them 

 the broken rim of a hole intended either for hanging it up by, or for some other 

 use. The material is Stag's Hornf ; and the animal which we find represented 



* Similarly engraved pieces of bone, bearing figures of Fishes, are worn (we are told by Mr. Francis Poole) 

 by some of the Indians of North-west America as charms, when sailing across Queen Charlotte's Sound. 



t It is remarkable that the old Savage, who wished to represent a Stag, has judiciously chosen for the 

 material an antler of Cervus elaphus ; whilst among the thousands of fragments of Eeindeer Horn whieh we 

 have collected in the Dordogne Caves we have found scarcely a fragment of Stag Horn. 



