Bihliographical Noticea. 149 



relics in the red uiid Miick deposits wub diBCcrncd ; they were 

 Bcattered throughout, and, proving to bo of the Reindeer Period, 

 indicate this as one of the oldest of the Swiss caves, like those on 

 the SaJevo and near Villeneuve. Indeed the lowest bed is supposed 

 to be of the Mammoth Period. 



No signs of polisliing appear on any of the flint implements ; and 

 no pottery has been found as yet. The bones are well prcscn-ed, 

 and the joint-ends have not been gnawed ; the hollow bones, 

 however, have been broken open. Bones of the Hare are most 

 plentiful ; next, those of the Reindeer and Stag, and then the 

 Horse. Bird-bones are not rare, especially of the Ptarmigan, Two 

 bones seem to be referable to the Bison or Aurochs. Single bones 

 were met with of the Fox (?), Hyaena (?), and Bear. Lastly, in 

 the lowest bed were found some fragments of a molar of the 

 Mammoth. 



Prof. Heim, describing in full the Reindeer figure engraved on 

 the piece of antler, which is carefully illustrated in the plate ac- 

 companying the Memoir, insists upon the bold, free, and exact 

 drawing of the old draughtsman, evidently by no means a beginner 

 in his art, and finds reason to show that he was right-handed. 

 In comparing this work of prehistoric art with those found in the 

 Caves of Perigord, and figured by Lartet and Christy in the ' Reli- 

 quiae Aquitanicas,' Prof. Heim notices the superior design and effect 

 of tliis natural and firdshed figure, as compared with the outlines 

 of Reindeer from that district ; but some known outlines of the 

 Aurochs from Perigord (sketched feebly in the ' Materiaux pour 

 I'Hist. de THomme,' vol. v. pi. 21) have equal vigour and truth, 

 and the carver of such poniard-handles as that figured in the ' Reli- 

 quire Aquitanicae,' B. pi. xx., could really represent the Reindeer 

 with exactness and grace. The Swiss lieindeer under notice, with 

 its pinched- up belly, appears to us to be migrating from a poor 

 feeding-ground, perhaps intent on a fresh pasture. Prof. Heim 

 objects to a disproportionate largeness of the head and smaUness of 

 the ear. Possibly its poor condition has attenuated the body ; or 

 still more likely, knowing the truthfulness of these old artists in 

 other respects, we may believe that this variety of Reindeer had a 

 large head. 



Prof. Heim points to other analogies presented by the contents of 

 the Kesslerloch with those of the caves on the Vezere. Piercers 

 made of bone, and broad sharp-edged implements of bone and 

 antler, fragments of the so-caUed Batons or Pogamagans, barbed 

 harpoons, and fragments of cut antlers were met with, thus corre- 

 sponding in many respects with the contents of the caves of the 

 Reindeer Period in the south-west of France. 



II. After some remarks on the sudden growth of prehistoric 

 studies and on the possibly rash calculations made as to the antiquity 

 of man, H. Karstcn states that, with the view of studying these 

 matters for himself, he sought for a cave near Schaff'hausen ; and, 

 with his friend Dr. E. Joos, he found one in February 1S74 fully 



