ii PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [April 1914, 



No papers were read, but in response to the invitation issued on 

 November oth, eighteen or more exhibits were made of implements 

 and reputed implements of Palaeolithic and earlier age, and of flints 

 showing various types of fracture. 



The President (Dr. A. Strahax), in opening the proceedings, 

 said that the subject which had come before the Society for con- 

 sideration was partly of anthropological interest, but fell also within 

 the limits of geology. For the exhibits included specimens of flints 

 from strata ranging in age so far back as the base of the Crag ; 

 and the determination of the age of the strata was clearly a matter 

 for geological investigation. 



The specimens exhibited included some for which evidence of 

 human workmanship was claimed with much confidence, but Avith- 

 out having obtained universal acceptance. There were also shown 

 series of flints illustrating the manifold forms of fracture which 

 are attributable to natural causes. A comparison of these with the 

 reputedly artificial foiins could not fail to be instructive. 



A large number of flints, for which a human origin was claimed, 

 had 'been found lying on the surface or embedded in the soil. 

 These were chiefly of anthropological interest. 



He considered that there were four lines of enquiry of primary 

 importance : — 



(1) Were the specimens obtained in situ in a geological formation ? 



(2) What was the geological age of the formation ? 



(3) Did the flints show indubitable proof of the handiwork of Man ? 



(4) Could such a sequence of types of implements be established in this 



country as to enable geologists to use implements as zone-fossils in 

 the deposits of the Human Period ? 



He then called upon each exhibitor to explain briefly the nature 

 and object of his exhibit. 



Mr. J. R. Moir exhibited specimens which included (1) imple- 

 ments from the base of the Suffolk Red Crag, comprising the 

 well-known rostro -carina te type, borers, pointed forms, flakes and 

 scrapers : also some Cetacean bones which presented the appearance 

 of having been fashioned by man ; (2) flints flaked by the exhi- 

 bitor, showing the various stages in the manufacture of a rostro- 

 carinate implement ; (3) four groups of implements from the 

 Middle Glacial gravel underlying Boulder Clay ; (4) a series of 

 implements from the Boulder Clay ; and (5) a series of implements 

 of the Strepy type of M. Rutot, from a Grlacial gravel apparently 

 later in age than the Boulder Cla}\ 



Mr. F. N. Haward exhibited a series of bulbs of percussion and 

 facetted flints, many with edges chipped on one or more sides, 

 from Glacial gravels and the Cannon-Shot Gravels of Norfolk. He 

 pointed out that the large rounded flints from the Cannon-Shot 

 Gravels were a mass of cones of percussion, some exhibited being 



