NATURE 



[July 2;, 191 1 



OTHER CONTEMPORARIES OF M.l\ AND 

 THE REINDEER AT MENTONE. 1 



IN Nature, October 10, 1907, appeared a notice of 

 the stratigraphical and anthropological results 

 obtained from the examination of the Baouss^-Raousse 

 1 ives at Mentone. In the work at present under 

 review we obtain the no less important geological 

 and palaeontological results. It may be said at the 

 "in-' 1 thai this subsequent volume is in every sense 

 a worthy companion to the preceding volumes, which 

 fulfilled in an exemplary manner the many tedious 

 requirements which modern archaeology exacts from 

 those who undertake the investigation and description 

 of these valuable and irreplaceable records of the past, 

 Not the least part of the debt which archaeologists 

 owe to AIM. Boule, Verneau, and de Villeneuve is due 

 to the admirable methods which they have instituted. 

 The volume at present under review contains a full 

 account of the various animal bones recovered from 

 these caves. The bones of each animal are first can - 



Map showing th' 



t-Elepkas antign 



fully considered, and so far as is possible a general 

 idea is obtained of the animal as it is represented 

 in the deposits within these caves. The information 

 thus obtained is next checked, confirmed, and ex- 

 tended by comparing the Baousse-Raousse specimens 

 with those contained in the various museums of 

 Europe. A no less interesting comparison is then 

 instituted between these extinct forms and the forms 

 living at the present day. Attention is next directed 

 to thi' exact stratigraphical position in which the 

 bones were discovered, and from this evidence the 

 order of arrival of the Pleistocene mammals in the 

 Mentone district is deduced. Not content with this. 

 M Boule furnishes us with a series of must useful 



maps of Europe and the adjoining parts ol Asia and 

 Africa showing the areas from which the remains ol 

 some of the larger and more important animals have 

 been reported. The methods employed will thus be 

 seen to be as perfect and exhaustive as they were no 



Grottes de Crimald 

 Otologic et Palc>, | 



xiv xxix. (Mo,,.. 



1 ' 1 Tome ;.. 



:<:). by Prof. M. Bon 



Fascicule iii., 

 ,7-236 -i-plates 



'li ubl laborious. Measurements of bones are almost 

 entirel) eschewed, M. Boule believing, with many 

 others, that measurements arbitrarily chosen are iii 

 no way .superior to simple observation, nor are the* 

 likely in his opinion to disclose such specifii 

 acters as would be likely to be hidden from the trained 

 ami experienced eye. Instead of long lists of measure- 

 ments of dubious value, the text is enriched with a 

 large number of admirable photographs, which in 

 some respects possess an advantage over the actual 

 specimens themselves. 



The bones recovered were obtained from the Grottef 

 du Prince, des Enfants, and du Cavillon. They com- 

 prised parts of the skeletons of the following : — 

 Elephas antiquus, Rhinoceros merckii, Equus cab alius, 

 Hippopotamus, Sus scrofa, Bos primi genius, Bison 

 priscus, Cervus capreolus, Cervus elaphus, Cervus 

 samonensis, Cervus tarandus, Cervus alecs, Rupicapra 

 tragus, and Capra ibex. 



The presence of Elephas primigenius was uncertain,] 



Rhinoi i»es tichorhinus was absent. The Equidaa were 



represented by specimens 



which, though relatively few in 



number, were of wide distribu- 

 tion, being scattered through 

 and recoverable from all the 

 beds. M. Boule believes that 

 he can recognise with consider- 

 able confidence the remains of 

 Equus asinus. The vast 

 majority of the specimens, how- 

 ever, belong to Equus caballus 

 and to the subdivision of that 

 species which has been variously 

 named Equus caballus, Linn., 

 Equus caballus typicus (Cossar 

 Ewart), Equus robustus 



(Frank). Contrary to the ex- 

 pectations of those who have 

 studied the carvings and en- 

 gravings of the reindeer period, 

 neither Equus przewalskii nor 

 the zebra can be shown to have 

 been present. 



Pigs were abundant. In the 

 Mentone neighbourhood Bos 

 primigenius made its appear- 

 ance quite as early as / 

 priscus, if indeed not earlier. 

 Bos longifrons was absent. 

 Cervus capreolus was present 

 as a vigorous form of the exist- 

 Cervus elaphus and Cervus samonensis 

 larger than modern specimens. 





NO. 2i;8, VOL. 87] 



ing animal 

 weie considerably 



Cervus tarandus made its appearance suddenly in Mid- 

 Pleistocene deposits; it was only found in any numbers 

 in the Grotte du Cavillon. Rupicapra tragus was of a 

 vigorous typi showing affinities to the chamois of the 

 Alps and of the Pyrenees. Capra ibex was repre- 

 sented by such a large number of specimens that 

 M. Boule hopes to see some day a complete nrnii- 

 structed skeleton of this animal at the Musee d 'Anthro- 

 pologic de Monaco. He considers it to he the ancestor; 

 ol the Alpine -nut of to-day. 



This most interesting and valuable volume will thus 

 !>■ seen to confirm the opinion which has slowly but 

 surely ripened to a conclusion that there has been no 

 sudden in complete break in the evolution or history 

 ol the fauna ol western Europe from Palaeolithic to 

 Neolithic times. There has further been little if any 

 natural organic evolution in the larger mammalia 

 in. ;n the earliesl Pleistocene to the present day. Some 

 of the animals of the Pleistocene have disappeared 

 through changes in climatic conditions or under the 



