246 Clironicles of Science. [April, 



present shore, several distinct belts of land (old sea margins ?) may 

 be observed, each characterized by its own peculiar vegetation ; it was 

 in the fourth of these belts, at a distance of 525 feet from the present 

 high-water mark, that these implements were found. Although the 

 polished implements are more highly finished than the rude chipped 

 weapons hitherto found in or near moa-ovens,* the author con- 

 siders they may have been used simultaneously by two races co- 

 existing in the island, the more civilized using polished tools and 

 dwelling on the coast, whilst the ruder primitive race retreated 

 inland, retaining the use of their unpolished implements. 



Dr. Oppert gave an account of a small race, numbering only about 

 50,000 souls, and known as the "Kitai," or "Kara-kitai," dwelling 

 near the Caspian Sea, in the Russian Government of Derbend, and in 

 the Siberian district of Guldja. These are the last descendants of a 

 once powerful race, which ruled over China and Central x\sia ; one 

 of their princes, Yelintashe, the author identified with the celebrated 

 Prester John. 



On January 25, Mr. Bon wick gave a paper " On the Origin of 

 the Tasmanians Geologically considered," in which he sought to 

 explain the distribution of many of the dark-skinned races in the 

 southern hemisphere by an ideal southern land from whence they 

 may have radiated. Dr. Hooker pointed out that man and the 

 higher animals probably did not pursue the same line of migration 

 as that followed by plants ; and Professor Huxley suggested that a 

 chain of islands may have formerly extended from Xew Caledonia to 

 Tasmania, similar to that which now extends from Xew Guinea to 

 Xew Caledonia, and that by this means a low Negrito type might 

 have spread eastwards over this area. 



Two papers followed : by Mr. Howorth," On a Frontier-line of 

 Ethnology and Geology," and by Mr Atkinson, " On the Xicobar 

 Islanders." Mr. Atkinson exhibited some grotesquely-carved wooden 

 figures brought from the Xicobar Islands by Captain Edge. 



On February 8, Mr. TV. Boyd Dawkins gave the history of a 

 find of flint-flakes, and flakes of chert discovered in the angular 

 detritus beneath a submerged forest at Porlock and Minehead, West 

 Somerset. These objects of human workmanship prove that man 

 must have existed on this old land-surface before the destruction of 

 the forest and the accumulation of the series of overlying deposits. 

 The author considered these flakes to belong to an early stage in the 

 Neolithic period. Dr. A. Campbell read some notes on the remains 

 of pre-historic man found in the neighbourhood of the Crinan Canal, 

 Argyleshire. The Bev. Mr. Mapleson described these remains, 

 which comprise some curious cup-shaped cavities and concentric 

 rings rudely sculptured on certain stones ; there are also menhirs 

 and numerous cairns ; crannoges have been found in most of the 



* See Chronicle of Archaeology for October, 1869. p. 513. 



