328 MM. Lartet and Christy on the Existence of Man 
apparent dilatation of one of the basilar antlers, and the whole 
physiognomy of this figure would lead us to refer it rather to 
the reindeer than to the common stag. In front of the muzzle 
of this head there is another figure, simply engraved in outline, 
which may be easily taken for a form of fish. 
There is another excellent specimen in which the art-sentiment 
is especially revealed by the clever manner in which the artist 
has been led to bend animal forms, without too much violence, 
to suit the necessities of a useful purpose. It 1s a poignard or 
short sword of reindeer-horn, of which the entire handle is 
formed by the body of an animal: the hind legs are laid in the 
direction of the blade; the fore legs are bent back, without 
effort, beneath the belly; the head, which has its muzzle ele- 
vated, forms with the back and the crupper a concavity designed 
to facilitate the grasping of this weapon by a hand which must 
have been much smaller than those of our European races. The 
head is armed with branched horns, which are closely applied to 
the sides of the neck without in any way hindering prehension ; 
but the basilar antlers have necessarily been suppressed. The 
ear is smaller than that of the stag, and is also, in its position, 
more in agreement with that of the reindeer; lastly, the artist 
has left beneath the neck a projection, in the form of a thin 
plate notched at its edge, which sufficiently resembles the tuft of 
hair often found at this point in the male Reindeer. It is to be 
regretted that this specimen has reached us in the condition of 
a mere sketch, as may be judged from the unfinished workman- 
ship of the blade, and from certain details of the sculpture being 
scarcely indicated. 
If it were necessary to add fresh evidence to that already fur- 
nished in proof of the contemporaneity of man and the reindeer 
in those regions which have become the southern and central 
France of the present day, we might mention numerous horns 
of that animal at the base of which may be distinguished cuts 
made in detaching the skin from them. We should also call 
attention to other transverse cuts which are frequently observed 
at_the bottom of the cannon-bones of our reindeer of the caves, 
produced during the cutting of the tendons, performed (as among 
the Esquimaux of the present day) with the intention of splitting 
them up and dividing them into threads which serve for sewing 
together the skins of animals and also for the formation of cords 
of great strength. 
Lastly, we can also show a lumbar vertebra of the Reindeer 
pierced from side to side by a flint weapon, which has remained 
fixed in the bone, where it is further retained by a calcareous 
incrustation. 
As an archeological fact characteristic of the period of the 
