Ixxii PEOCEEDmGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



account of the individual species. It must also be stated that the 

 work is accompanied by 15 plates of illustrations. 



Although perhaps more interesting in an ethnological than in a 

 geological point of view, we cannot altogether exclude from our 

 notice the phenomena attending the first appearance of Man on our 

 planet. The discoveries of the last few years have satisfactorily 

 shown that the opinions formerly entertained of a great break 

 existing between the period when the now extinct races of Mam- 

 malia dwelt in our land, and the first creation of Man, are no longer 

 tenable. Here also we have been obliged to give up the theory of 

 great breaks between successive formations. As we find a gradual 

 passage from one geological formation to another evidenced by the 

 gradual dying out of the pre-existing forms of animal hfe, and the 

 gradual introduction of newer, and generally higher, forms (although 

 we do not yet understand the law of such progressive changes), so, 

 when we come to the most recent, or Quaternary, periods in geolo- 

 gical chronology, we find evidence of Man's existence on the earth 

 before the final disappearance of those varied forms of mammalian 

 life which have hitherto been generally looked upon as belonging 

 to the final period of the geological cycle. Thus Man of the present 

 day is connected by an almost unbroken series of links with the 

 recently discovered Foraminifera of the Laurentian gneiss. Let me 

 not, however, be supposed to be thereby giving in my adhesion to 

 the doctrines of development, either to that of Lamarck or to the 

 more recent and captivating views of Mr. Darwin. 



Since, then, we must now admit human remains, and the evi- 

 dences of human existence, as belonging to the last period of geolo- 

 gical history, I cannot refrain from alluding to some of the publica- 

 tions which have recently appeared on this subject. 



Dr. Felix Garrigou, of Tarascon, has published an interesting 

 work on the old Quaternary alluviums and the bone-caves of the 

 Pyrenees and of the West of Europe. After pointing out that dif- 

 ferent caves contain difi'erent animal remains generally, in accord- 

 ance with the various positions of the caves, he shows that some 

 caves contain as many as three distinct beds characterized by their 

 different contents, as, e. g., the cave of Mas-d'Azil. 



The first period is characterized by Ursus spelceus, TJ. priscus, 

 Felis speloea, Hycena spelcea, Elephas primigenius, Rhinoceros ticho- 

 rhinus, Megaceros hihernicus, Cervus elaphus, Bos primigenius, Bison 

 europceus, and sometimes Cervus tarandus, &c. The second period 

 is that in which the Keindeer is most prominent ; with it are found 

 the Horse, Megaceros hihernicus, Cervus elaphus, Bos primigenius, 

 Aurochs, Sheep, Chamois, Bouquetin, Wolf, and Fox, and a third 

 species of Canis, perhaps intermediate between these two last, but no 

 domesticated animals. The fauna of the third or prehistoric period, 

 found at the entrance of caverns and in beds overlying those which 

 contain the Eeindeer, consists of Ursus arctos (still living in the Pyre- 

 nees), three species of Bos (domesticated), the Goat, Sheep, Sus 

 scrofa palustris, Sus scrofaferus, Cervus elaphus, Eoebuck, Bouquetin, 

 Chamois, Wolf, Fox, domestic Dog, Hare, Blackcock, &c. 



