264 THE REV. J. MAGENS MELLO, M.A.^ P.G.S., ETC., 



sharp flints have been found in beds where bones have been 

 found. There are various ways in which those signs can be 

 accounted for, and I do not accept them myself as the work of an 

 intelligent being. 



With regard to trepanning, T do not think that that has a 

 bearing on the present paper. It is a subject I have alluded to 

 in a paper, and I may some day have an opportunity of bringing 

 it before you. I consider it touches the subject of Neolithic man, 

 but that may be dwelt upon at a later period. It is undoubtedly 

 interesting and of great importance in some respects. 



With regard to Mr. Allen Brown's remarks, they have great 

 value ; but I must say I do not agree with him that there is 

 no break between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods. I do 

 not say it is impossible that they ran into each other ; but I 

 cannot see at present that there is any sign of their overlapping 

 such as the Neolithic and the Bronze age. I am sorry there 

 is not time to dwell on a subject upon which much more might 

 be said. 



I quite agree with Professor Hull that we certainly should 

 expect, had man existed in the tertiary period, to have found 

 his remains in far greater numbers, whereas we have only such 

 doubtful specimens. 



The meeting was then adjourned. 



COMMUNICATIONS BECEIVEB IN BEGABD TO THE 

 PBE CEDING PAPEB.. I 



Professor T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., writes: — 



I am too heavily engaged to hope to be present to hear the Rev. 

 J. M. Mello's very interesting and conscientious resume of what is 

 known about early man. The several evidences of man's existence 

 in Europe during Pliocene (Tertiary) times certainly seem to still 

 require to be substantiated. Mr. Becker, however, has carefully 

 re-examined Prof. Whitney's evidences of early man in California, 

 and sees no reason to suppose that the relics have been introduced 

 subsequently to the formation of the gravels in which they are 

 found ; but he believes that they were certainly deposited with 

 plant remains like those of Tei-tiary age, with a now extinct 

 rhinoceros (Bh. hesperius) and a mastodon — that great lava-flows 



