608 KEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



occupying that country, which in the present time have immigrated 

 to the colder regions. Thirteen of them have gone to the north, by 

 degrees of latitude, while five, like the chamois, mountain goat, etc., 

 have retreated to the mountains in search of that cold which was nec- 

 essary to support their lives, and which they did not find in the sub- 

 sequent warm climate of southern France. 



THE CHELLIAN EPOCH. 



The Chelliau implements here figured are the standard ones for this 

 period, though they were mostly almond-shaped or oval, with the cutting 

 edge to the point, which is the contrary to those of the neolithic period. 

 The body of the implement was thick, after the shape of an almond or 

 peach stone. It was not thin and flat like those of the later epoch, the 

 Solutrian, and the two are not to be confounded. They are made of 

 flint where that stone was obtainable ; where it was not, quartz and 

 quartzite seems to have been employed, although any stone would serve 

 which was homogeneous, so that it might be flaked in every direction ; 

 tough, that it might hold an^dge, and hard, that it would not break or 

 crumble. The flint always broke under a blow with a conchoidal frac- 

 ture, and this may be frequently seen. 



These implements differ somewhat in form and size, though they are 

 substantially the same. Some of them are more round 5 others more 

 pointed. A few approach the disk form, and have an edge which 

 might have served for scraping rather than cutting; but all we know 

 of this is obtained from an examination of the object itself. They were 

 all made by chipping, and were usually brought to an edge by the re- 

 moval of smaller and finer flakes. Chips, flakes, spawls, etc., the de- 

 bris of manufacture, are frequently found in the deposits associated 

 with finished implements. Many, indeed most of the specimens, show 

 signs of use. Some are broken and others apparently unfinished. 



Occasionally the cutting edge extends nearly around the implement, 

 but many times a portion of the pebble is left for a grip. So, while it is 

 possible it may have been attached to a handle in some cases, it is evi- 

 dent that sometimes it was intended to be taken in the hand. The 

 hand may have been protected against the sharp ones by a bit of skin, 

 fur, grass, or other substance. I much doubt whether any of them 

 were attached to a handle, for it must have been with great care and 

 labor that the workman was able to bring them to this sharp edge all 

 around, and when so done it produced a form of implement very difift- 

 cult to successfully insert in a handle. To make a firm attachment the 

 handle must envelop it at its greatest diameter, and herein lies the 

 difficulty. If the sharpened implement be only partiall^'^ inserted, a 

 few hard blows would split the handle; if it be inserted too far the 

 same blow will drive it through. Plate Lxxxvii, Figs. 1-2. 



The flint of which these implements are made has, in many speci- 

 mens, passed, since their manufacture, through certain chemical and 



