570 REPORT—1904. 
for future reference. The upper stalagmitic crust was 4 inches thick imme- 
diately over the skeleton, but became 12 inches thick within 2 yards of the 
spot. The small dimensions of the fissure and the undisturbed deposits put 
interment out of the question. The skull was slightly below the level of the 
pelvic and leg bones, and the whole skeleton was in a doubled-up position in the 
upper part of the cave earth. 
The cranium is of medium size and oval in form. Its measurements are: 
Maximum length, 185 mm.; maximum width, 130 mm.; cephalic index, 73. The 
frontal bone has the extreme thickness of 9 mm. The lower jaw, which is fairly 
massive, is very wide, measuring 120 mm. between the condyles; the teeth in this 
jaw are well preserved. The very forward slant of the mastoid processes and the 
large tubercle at the posterior end of the zygomatic arch point to a short powerful 
neck. The face is much mutilated, but enough remains to show the prominence of 
the supraorbital ridge and the slight prognathism of the jaws. 
The tibia is a remarkable bone. ‘The flatness of the sides and the extreme 
acuteness of the angular ridge remove it altogether from the normal type. A 
section through the ridge gives an antero-posterior diameter of 38 mm. and a 
transverse diameter of 20 mm., which measurements give the exceedingly low index 
526; the bone is thus shown to be the most platycnemic tibia that has yet been 
measured in our country, The femur is 172in. in maximum length. This, by 
Dr. Beddoe’s formula, gives a height for the individual of 5ft. 5in. 
Remains of Pleistocene mammalia have been taken from the cave earth of the 
vestibule, but, with the exception of teeth of horse, not from the fissure in which 
the human remains were found. 
Many flint implements have been found at all levels in the cave earth of 
vestibule and fissure: blades, borers, saws (?), scrapers, and flakes occur in abundance. 
They are beautifully patinated, and exhibit much skill in their fabrication, there 
being little or no secondary working upon the majority of them. Flints of the 
same form and workmanship are found in cave earth of unmistakable Pleistocene 
age in French caverns. A small set from Torbryan Cave, Devon, are also 
exhibited as palzolithic, with a query, in the Natural History Museum, South 
Kensington. 
The circumstances under which, and the position in which, flints are found 
must be duly considered, as well as form and workmanship, before their age can be 
ascertained. It is not necessary to take the time which the stalagmite would take 
to reach 12 inches in thickness into account. It is not the time taken to form the 
bed, but the period in which it was deposited, that I have tried to arrive at by 
other means than arithmetical calculation. This period I conclude, from the 
cumulative evidence adduced, to be Mortillet’s ‘ Magdalénian’ Age of Culture, at 
the close of the Paleolithic Period. If this be so, the human remains form a link 
between the low types of Neanderthal and Spy and the later Neolithic remains 
found abundantly in our own country. 
4, Report on the Exploration of Irish Caves.—See Reports, p. 288. 
5. The Geology of the Oban Hills, Southern Nigeria. 
By JouN PaRKINSON. 
(By permission of the Director of the Imperial Institute.) 
In the summer of 1903 the Colonial Office, acting in conjunction with and under 
advice from the Imperial Institute, decided to establish a Mineral Survey for the 
Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. The author, who was accompanied by Mr. 
L. H. L. Huddart, B.A., A.R.S.M., was appointed to this work, and the follow- 
ing notes provide a brief outline of the principal geological features of the district 
investigated during the first season’s work. They forma preliminary account of 
an area of about 1,500 square miles, covering the eastern part of the country 
between the Kameruns territory on the east and the Cross River on the north and 
