612 Reviews — Reliquiae Aquitanicce. 



in science ; yet this volume will probably outlast many of the more 

 ponderous and barbaric structures of the past, and prove a source of 

 knowledge to all who consult its pages. 



The Caves and Rock-shelters containing the Aquitanian relics 

 treated of in this work are excavated in cliffs of Cretaceous Lime- 

 stone along the lower portion of the valley of the Vezere ; indeed 

 for nearly thirty miles they form both on the Yezere and its many 

 tributaries those nearly precipitous escarpments which have been 

 in all ages excavated by natural agencies and the hand of man into 

 galleries, recesses, and caverns. These ossiferous caves (whether 

 or not enlarged artificially) have been hollowed out originally by 

 atmospheric agency, the softer bands of limestone having been more 

 readily acted upon by frost and other agencies than the harder beds. 



The uppermost of these limestones is characterized by the presence 

 of Rudistes (Splicerulites, Badioh'tes, Hippurites) . The second zone 

 is a Polyzoan Limestone with shells, Echinoderms, and the claws of 

 a Crustacean (Callianassa) like that of the Maestricht beds. 



The flint occurs as a chert band often containing Polyzoa, Orbitoides, 

 and even fish-teeth (Otodus). 



The Caves described are those of Les Eyzies, La Madelaine, Gorge 

 d'Enfer, Cro-Magnon, Le Moustier, besides numerous rock-shelters 

 at Laugerie Haute, and Laugerie Basse, etc. 



Although coming within the age of simply-worked stone, without 

 the accompaniment of domestic animals, these caves are by no 

 means on a uniform level as regards the products of human industry. 



In only three stations (namely, Les Eyzies, Laugerie Basse, and 

 La Madelaine) have figures of animals engraved or sculptured on 

 stone, on bone, or on reindeer-horn, been met with. At Laugerie 

 Haute lance-heads of flint were found in abundance, whilst arrow- 

 heads or harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn were almost entirely absent, 

 although plentiful at Laugerie Basse and at La Madelaine. 



The Cave of Moustier has yielded even more rude and primitive 

 flint- weapons than any, but not a single worked bone or engraved or 

 sculptured figure of any animal. Nevertheless the fauna of the 

 several stations appears to be almost the same. 



If we eliminate from the following list the names of certain 

 animals (which in these caves are represented by single fragments 

 of bone or a tooth) such as the Mammoth, the Cave-lion, the Hyaana, 

 and the great Cave-bear, we have seven stations, of perhaps various 

 ages, but all in the Reindeer and Wild-horse Period. These animals, 

 as in the Cave of Bruniquel, on the Aveyron, were evidently the 

 principal objects of the chase, and their remains make up by far the 

 larger bulk of the osseous fragments left in the cave-dwellings. 



It is reasonable to assume that the Reindeer went North in sum- 

 mer, and at that season probably herds of Wild-horses took their 

 jdace, retiring further South than the Reindeer in winter. 



The Musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus) was probably also a winter visit- 

 ant ; at any rate two portraits have been found of it, carved on bone 

 harpoons (one from Bruniquel, and one from Kesslerloch, near 

 Thaingen, Canton Schaffhausen, in Switzerland) ; and its bones 

 have also been found in two caves of the Vezere. 



