2 GEOLOaiCAL MEMOIRS. 



llie Caverns of the Banks of the Lesse and the Meuse, exjplored up 

 to October, 1865. By M. E. Dupont. 



[Etude sur les cavernes des bords de la Lesse et de la Meuse, explor6es jus- 

 qu'au mois d'Octobre, 1865 ; par M. Edouard Dupont. Bulletin de I'Aca- 

 demie Koyale de Belgique, 2^ ser. tome xx. p. 824.] 



A EFRTHER exploration of the escarpments of the Eiver Lesse by the 

 author led to the discovery of other caverns in the neighbourhood of 

 Dinant, which he describes in this communication. 



Amongst these, the cavern of Chaleux {Trou de Chcdeux), about 55 

 feet above the river-level, has yielded some important evidence. An 

 excavation made in the middle of the cavern showed that immediately 

 above the limestone floor was a deposit of alternating sands and 

 clays (9 and 10), overlain by a bed of gravel (8), this last being 

 beneath a bed of sandy clay (7) containing angular fragments of 

 limestone, remains of Ursus spelceus, and the argillaceo- calcareous 

 nodules which characterize an analogous deposit in the Paris basin. 

 The little bed of gravel marks an important horizon ; for it is the 

 characteristic of the argillaceo -sandy level of the caverns and the 

 Quaternary formation; and being formed of small fragments of 

 sandstone and rolled psammite, it affords incontestable proof of the 

 action of " external waters " in the stratification of the deposit. 

 Moreover two flint knives were obtained from it; and as the super- 

 posed bed contains the remains of Ursus spelmus, the discovery con- 

 siderably increases the known antiquity of Man upon the banks of 

 the Lesse. 



JS'earer the entrance of the cave, and extending some distance 

 down the escarpment of the river, occurs a continuous bed (6) of 

 fragments of the Carboniferous Limestone in which the cavern is 

 situated. Above this, on the outside slope, and extending above 

 the sandy argillaceous deposit of the interior, is a bed (5) composed 

 of sand, dust, and ashes, and showing numerous traces of the co- 

 existence of man with the Eeindeer. Bones of animals which 

 have served as food for man, human bones, and worked bones are 

 abundant. More than 30,000 flints — knives, chips, blocks, and 

 cores — were discovered in this thin bed of 12 inches, besides ashes 

 and numerous fragments of sandstone, schist, &c. This bed is over- 

 lain by a mass of calcareous blocks (4) like those of the previous 

 bed (6), this again being capped by the ordinary yellow clay (3), 

 which contained, besides some bones and teeth of the horse, about 50 

 flint knives. This yellow clay assumes a reddish tint (2) at the 

 entrance, where it is surmounted by a sandy clay (1) analogous to 

 Loess. 



Prom the sandy bed (No. 5) M. Yan Beneden has determined 

 11 species of mammifers — namely, the Reindeer, Goat, Ox, Horse, 

 Lion, Brown Bear, Eox, Badger, Polecat, Hare, and Water-rat. 

 Most of these animals have evidently served as food for the inhabi- 

 tants of the caverns, all of the bones being completely broken. The 

 Horse seems to have afforded the principal food ; for no less than 937 

 molar teeth have been obtained from this one cave. Bones of the 

 Arvicola amphibia are also very abundant ; and as they are found 



