44 Reports & Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 



3. December 17, 1913.— Dr. Aubrey Strahan, F.E.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 



"Supplementary Note on the Discovery of a Palaeolithic Human 

 Skull and Mandible at Piltdown (Sussex)." By Charles Dawson, 

 F.S.A., F.G.S., and Arthur Smith Woodward, LL.D., P.R.S., 

 Sec.G.S. 



The gravel at Piltdown (Sussex) below the surface-soil is divided 

 into three distinct beds: — 



The first, or uppermost, contains subangular flints and ' eoliths ', 

 and one palaeolith was discovered there in situ. 



The second is a very dark bed, composed of ironstone and sub- 

 angular flints. All the fossils so far found in the pit have been 

 discovered in or traced to this bed, with the exception of the remains 

 of deer. A cast of a Olialk fossil, JEchinocorys vulgaris, from the zone 

 of Micraster cor-testudinarium, occurred as a pebble. 



The third bed was only recognized this year, and consists of 

 reconstructed material from the underlying Wealden rock (Hastings 

 Series). It is only about 8 inches thick, and contains very big flints 

 (8 to 15 inches long), which have been little rolled, and are not 

 striated. They are saturated with iron, and have undergone con- 

 siderable chemical change. They differ very markedly in appearance 

 from the smaller flints in the upper strata. No implements, ' eoliths,' 

 nor fossil bones have been met with in this bed. 



The floor of the gravel, where the remains of Eoanthropus were 

 discovered, has been carefully exposed, and many irregularities and 

 depressions have been found to exist. In some of these depressions 

 small patches of the dark overlying bed remained, and new specimens 

 were recovered. The method adopted in excavation is described. 



The finds made this year are few but important, and include the 

 nasal bones and a canine tooth of Eoanthropus, also a fragment of 

 a molar of Stegodon and another of Rhinoceros, an incisor and broken 

 ramus of Beaver ( Castor fiher), a worked flint from the dark bed, 

 and a Palseolithic implement from the debris in the pit. It will be 

 noted that the remains are those of a land fauna only. The further 

 occurrence of bedded flint-bearing gravels in the vicinity of the pit 

 is noted. 



The authors' former conclusions, as to the Pliocene forms having 

 been derived, are maintained. 



A further study of the cranium of Eoanthropus shows that the 

 occipital and right parietal bones need slight readjustment in the re- 

 construction, but the result does not alter essentiallv any of the 

 conclusions already published. The nasal bones, now described, are 

 typically human, but relatively small and broad, resembling those of 

 some of the existing Melanesian and African races. The right 

 lower canine tooth may be regarded as belonging to the imperfect 

 mandibular ramus already described. It is relatively large and stout, 

 and, like the molar teeth, it has been much worn by mastication. 

 The worn surface on the inner aspect extends down to the gum, and 

 proves that the upper and lower canines completely interlocked, as 

 in the apes. In shape the canine resembles the milk-canine of man 



