Feb., 1919.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. xxi 
remains of which the age is known exactly are Pleistocene. 
J. Barrell, in his analysis of the geological evidence, con- 
cludes that the period which has elapsed since the beginning 
of the Pleistocene epoch is at least one million, and possibly 
as much as 14 million vears, and we may thus take the 
date of Neanderthal man as from half to three-quarters of a 
million years ago. 
t is generally agreed that modern man (H. sapiens) is 
not the direct descendant of the Neanderthal race, but is a 
collateral branch. W.K Gregory suggests that bo th m ay be 
descended from the Heidelberg type (H. ina Nebo but 
too little is known of the latter to permit of any certain deduc- 
tions being drawn, reg to go back further still. Pithecan- 
thropus of Java, which is attributed to the Pliocene, is also 
regarded as a collateral branch from the main stem of the human 
family. The view now generally adopted is that, peti 
the anthropoid apes and man are descended from a comm 
ancestor. the human stem (Hominide) branched off from the 
simian during the Tertiary epoch, not later probably than the 
middle of the Miocene period, or from thirteen to sixteen million 
years ago. So far we can only trace the line back for about ? 
million years from the present day, but if, as some maintain, 
the gravels in which the Piltdown skull was found are early 
Pleistocene, this will carry us back another half million years 
or so, but even that will be only a small step towards the 
recognition of the earliest members of the human family. 
——<>-— 
The esident announced the election of a and 
Members es coansl for the year 1919 to be as follows 
President. 
Mahamahopadhyaya Haraprasad Shastri, C.J.E., M.A., 
F.A.S.B. 
Vice-Presidents. 
The Hon. J ustice oy Asutosh acne mt., C.8.5., 
R.S. S.B 
ie; DRG: 
The Hon. Mr. F. J. Monahan i 8 C. S. 
Lieut.-Col. W. D. Sutherland, M.D., F.A.S.B., I.M.S. 
G. C. Simpson, Esq., D.Sc., F.R.S. 
Secretary and Treasurer. 
General Secretary :—W. A. K. Christie, Esq., B.Sc., Ph.D. 
Treasurer :—R. D. Mehta, Esq. C.L.E. 
