Miscellaneous, 235 



of Kunth and Lindley, admits here the quaternary type which in 

 the primitive plan of the flower would be general in all the floral 

 whorls. lie supports this opinion by new examples, added to those 

 already known, of siliques with four valves, and also by teratological 

 facts, namely, the transformation, in certain proliferous flowers of 

 this family, of the four carpellary leaves into four sepals having ru- 

 diments of ovules. He thus proves, in this case, another abortion, 

 taking place in the antero-posterior direction. 



From the facts established in his memoir he deduces the following 

 conclusions : — 



1 . The quaternary type, with two series of stamina on the androe- 

 cium, constitutes the primitive symmetry of the Cruciferse. 



2. The absence of bracts, the greater or less flattening of the 

 peduncles, the more or less depressed form of the flower- bud, the 

 slight irregularity of the calyx, the absence of two stamina in the 

 outer whorl of the androecium, and often of the two glands upon 

 which they should have been inserted, and, lastly, the abortion of 

 two carpellary leaves are induced by a pressure exerted from within 

 outwards upon the flowers and bracts of the Cruciferse. 



3. This pressure is due to the accumulation of the flowers, which 

 are developed in great numbers at the apex of the inflorescence (which 

 is then corymbiform) and mutually hinder each other in their 

 evolution, but also to the resistance presented to this expansion by 

 the closely approximated leaves surrounding the inflorescence at its 

 origin. — Comptes RenduSy December 19, 1864, p. 1041. 



On Ancient Human Races of Belgium, contemporaneous with the Rein- 

 deer and the Beaver. By Professor Van Beneden. 



Close to the Cavern of Nutons, which is situated in the valley of 

 the Lesse, in an excavation which can hardly be called a cave, we 

 have found human bones in abundance ; B.nd we have stopped digging 

 until the 26th December, in order to give an opportunity to those who 

 may be interested in the matter, of seeing with their own eyes (I 

 will not say fossil men, as the word is too elastic, but) skeletons 

 which have been entombed there by the waters before or during a 

 great cataclysm. This grotto is situated 40 metres above the present 

 level of the Lesse. The skeletons are found in the following con- 

 ditions : — All the bones are scattered, the long bones always placed 

 longitudinally, and a perfect human cranium beneath a large stone 

 which still adheres to the wall by stalagmites. This cranium is half 

 filled with stones, which are scarcely smaller than the occipital fora- 

 men through which they have passed. In front of the cranium 

 there was a scapula, some clavicles, ribs, long bones, and vertebrae of 

 children, young people, and adults. A cervical vertebra was pressed 

 over the coracoid apophysis of the scapula with such force that the 

 ring has been broken, and it cannot be detached without violence. 

 Bones were found wedged in between stones in such a manner that 

 there was absolutely no space between them and the sides of the 

 stones. Water alone could have produced such an eff'ect. In the 



