272 Notices of Memoirs — Fossil Human Skeleton found in Italy. 



Lord Enniskillen's specimen of Uronemus lohatus is four inches 

 and a half long ; the extremity of the tail is however deficient. 

 At the very front of the snout, the impression of a small portion of 

 bone is seen, whose edge must have been set with a row of small 

 pointed teeth, these also being only seen in impression. About 

 three-quarters of an inch back from the end of the snout, and in the 

 middle of the confused and unreadable mass of bony matter represent- 

 ing the head, are distinctly seen several conical smooth tooth-like 

 bodies one-fourteenth of an inch in length. They are apparently in 

 an upper and lower opposing set ; the upper are evidently palatal 

 the lower may appertain to the lower jaw. Possibly they may be 

 denticulations of Ctenodont plates, but from the state of preservation 

 of the head, it is hardly possible to say so with certainty. The 

 specimen is rather injured on the haemal aspect of the caudal 

 region, so that no additional infoi'mation regarding the anal fin is 

 gained from it, nor from the other specimen in the cabinet of Sir 

 Philip Egerton. The latter^ measures three inches and a half in 

 length. The head and the anterior part of the trunk are wanting, 

 but the tail is shown to nearly its termination ; the greater part of 

 the dorso-caudal fin is present, but the lower lobe of the caudal is 

 rather deficiently exhibited. This specimen shows, however, a well- 

 marked, narrow, lanceolate, ventral fin one inch long, and three- 

 sixteenths of an inch broad at its middle. Many of its fine rays are 

 visible, but the state of preservation of the fin is unfortunately not 

 sufficiently good to enable one to recognize its exact structure, 

 though its general aspect is certainly that of an acutely lobate 

 member. 



iTOTiCES OIF iMiiEnycoiias. 



I. DlSCOVEKY OF A HuMAN SKELETON IN A CaVERN IN ItALT. 



THE announcement has been made, in " La Courrier de Menton," 

 of the 7th of April, of the discovery of a human skeleton, in 

 one of the caves of the frontiers of Italy, by Monsieur E. Eiviere, 

 who is entrusted by the French Government with a scientific mission 

 — having for its object the study of the natural and prehistoric history 

 and palaeontology of Liguria. 



Subsequently to the discovery, in the neighbouring quarries, of an 

 immense quantity of bones, teeth, and fossil horns, of gigantic stags, 

 rhinoceros, hyenas, bears, and other quadrupeds, sent by him to the 

 national museum, M. Eiviere has devoted himself, latterly, to the 

 opening of caverns. The skeleton which he has just discovered was 

 found in the large cavern of Baousse-rousse, buried beneath a 

 layer of earth several yards thick. This cavern is called, in the 

 dialect spoken at Grimaldi, the " Barma du Cavillon " ; that is to say, 

 the cavern of the little cheville (barma signifying cavern, and 

 cavillon, the diminutive of cavilla, bolt), a name given to it from 

 time immemorial, because there has always been a piece of wood 

 placed transversely over the front. This was destroyed when the 



