DUPO^'T CAVERJS'S OF THE LESSE AND THE MEUSE. 6 



principally near the hearths, they too may possibly have formed part 

 of the repasts. Many of the bones bear distinct traces of incisions 

 made with flint instruments. The presence in this bed of the bones 

 of Man the author considers difficult of explanation ; but as they are 

 usually found entire, and do not occur mingled with the other bones 

 near the remains of the fire-places, he considers it difficult to see in 

 them the proof of cannibalism on the part of the ancient population. 

 Some of the implements are made of phthanite obtained from a bed 

 in the limestone of the country. All the rest are of external origin ; 

 and the author inclines to the opinion that they were introduced 

 from Champagne — a conclusion at which M. !N'yst had independently 

 arrived from an examination of the shells. 



These last consist of 54 Tertiary marine shells, which M. !N'yst has 

 examined. 25 of them are perforated near the mouth, but M. Dupont 

 hesitates to say whether by friction or by some sharp instrument. 

 During last summer, among the ashes of an ancient hearth, the 

 workmen discovered the forearm of an elephant. The author, how- 

 ever, considers that the inhabitants found it in a fossil state, and 

 that, either for the purpose of worship, or as an object of curiosity, 

 they carried it into the cavern. 



Besides these, a quantity of difi'erent objects, such as part of a 

 great Ammonite, pieces of elephants' teeth, three teeth of a whale, 

 a vertebra belonging to a species of the genus Carcharias, besides 

 the 54 Eocene shells, &c., have been procured. 



The author then, after a recapitulation of the beds and the prin- 

 cipal objects of interest in the cavern, describes in detail two other 

 caverns on the same escarpment, the Trou des Nutons, and Trou de 

 Frontal. 



This last, M. Dupont describes as a cavern of great importance. 

 The floor is covered with a coarse stratified greenish sand, contain- 

 ing traces of peaty matter, and bones of the Beaver. This deposit 

 passes into a thick deposit of rolled pebbles of Ardennais origin, 

 from which were obtained a tooth of Ursus spelceus, and teeth of the 

 Horse. This bed is again overlain by a little bed of grey sand, 

 which is beneath a stratified sandy argillaceous deposit contain- 

 ing the characteristic calcareous nodules. Above this is a greyish- 

 yellow sand, considered by the author to be the Loess, this being 

 surmounted by loose stones. All the bones, with the exception of 

 those already mentioned, were obtained from the yellow clay with 

 angular fragments of limestone. The bones belonging to 13 

 skeletons were found entire, together with a quantity of flint knives, 

 some Eocene shells pierced in such a manner as to make them 

 capable of being suspended as ornaments, and an urn of a coarse 

 description of hand-made pottery. Remains of the Brown Bear, 

 Bcindeer, Chamois, Beaver, Horse, &c. were discovered ; and as they 

 are fractured, and some of them burnt, they probably formed part of 

 a human repast. 



M. Dupont finally comes to the conclusion that this cavern has 

 served for the sepulture of men who inhabited the country after the 

 deposition of the stratified sandy clay, and before the deposition of 



