Reviews — Prof. Dr. Ferd. Hoemer's Bone Caves of Poland. 169 



One of the most abundant of these shells is the Succinea oblonga, a 

 species almost confined to blown sand. This species, once widely 

 spread over England, is now, apparently owing to changed conditions, 

 confined to the sand dunes of our western coast. The other shells 

 found with it seem to point, though not so conspicuously, in the same 

 direction. 



At present these thin superficial deposits are seldom properly 

 examined, but the}'- are well worthy of study, as is proved by 

 I3arwin's valuable book on soils, and by Prof. Prestwich's curious 

 discoveries in beds lying immediately below. 



li E ATI S ^W S. 



I. — The Bone-caves of Ojcow in Poland. By Professor Dr. 

 Ferdinand Koemer, Director of the Mineralogical and Palteon- 

 tological Museums of the Royal University of Breslau. Trans- 

 lated by John Edward Lee, F.G.S., F.S.A, 4to. pp. 57, with 

 14 Plates.) (London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1884.) 



WE are indebted to Mr. John Edward Lee, — the translator of 

 Keller's Lake Dwellings, and of Merk's Kesslerlock Cave, — 

 for another contribution to the list of works on prehistoric archae- 

 ology in Europe. Many years have elapsed since any contribution 

 has appeared in German^' to the histoiy of Cave-exploration, and. 

 we cannot but feel thankful to Prof. Dr. Ferd. Eoemer for initiating 

 the present inquiry. 



The Caves — writes the author — now about to be described, have 

 for a length of time been partially known to the inhabitants of the 

 district ; but they first attracted general attention some years since, 

 when the bottoms of the Caves were worked for manure, the bed of 

 earth being rich in bones, and containing a large quantity of phos- 

 phoric acid. The Cave of Jerzmanowice more especially has 

 yielded those results since the year 1872. The author obtained his 

 first information respecting these works from the mining officials of 

 Upper Silesia, who had to visit professionally these places in Poland, 

 and at the same time he received from this Cave some single bones 

 and teeth of the Cave-bear, and also some prehistoric flint imple- 

 ments. In the year 1874 a visit was made to the cave of Jerz- 

 manowice, and proof was obtained that it contained a great quantity 

 of bones of extinct animals, and also of implements of the ancient 

 inhabitants. 



This led to the determination of undertaking a thorough investi- 

 gation of these Caves, and of doing this if possible before the Caves 

 were cleared of their deposits for agricultural purposes, by which all 

 the scientific data would be utterly lost." 



The specimens obtained differ in no important respect from other 

 ^vell-known bone-caves ; they especially resemble those of Moravia. 

 Geographically they are interesting as being the most easterly of 

 any European caves north of the Carpathians. 



We agree with Prof. Eoemer that " It is most certainly to be re- 



