20 CUP-SHAPED AISID OTHER LAPIDARIAN SCULPTURES. 



meter and a half long and sixty centimeters in thickness, having sculptured 

 on its upper surface about sixty round cups, distributed in irregular groups, 

 and in some instances conjoined by grooves, which, to judge from the very 

 good accompanying illustration, here reproduced as Fig. 15, are much shal- 

 lower than the cavities. The largest cup measures eight centimeters in 

 diameter; the others are smaller, and their depth varies between a few mil- 

 limeters and three centimeters. The people of the neighborhood call this 

 block La Boule de Gargantua, attaching to it the legend that it was hurled 

 from a distance to its present place by the giant of that name, the impres- 

 sions of his fingers being the very ciips seen on its surface. 



M. Falsan alludes to the existence of other yet unexamined cup-stones 

 in that region, and a further search probably will amply reward the investi- 

 gator.* 



Quite recently M Louis de Malafosse has pointed out tlie occurrence of 

 cup-cuttings on rocks in the Lozfere Department, mentioning in particular a» 

 schistose rock in situ near the rivulet Rioulong, not far from a place called 

 Chirac. A cornice-like projection of this rock shows about forty cups, 

 apparently grouped without order, and in some instances connected by 

 grooves, as indicated in Fig. IG, which is a copy of M. de Malafosse's 

 illustration. The grooves are shallower than the cups, the hitter being from 

 three to four centimeters in diameter and from three and a half to four 

 centimeters deep. The cup marked A is larger than the others. These 

 cavities are conical in shape and some terminate in a flat bottom. M. de 

 Malafosse thinks that, though the rock is very hard, the cavities might have 

 been produced by the rotation of a flint implement.f 



Additional discoveries of cup-stones in difl'erent parts of France may 

 be confidently expected. 



*Kalsan: De la Presence de quelques Pierres Jl ficuelles dans la Rdgion Moyenne du Bassiii da 

 Rhdne; Matgriaux, 1878, p. 280. 



tDo Malafosse: Les Pierres ^ Bassins et lea Rochers h ficuclles dans la Lozfere; Mat<5riaux, 1879, 

 p. 97. 



