1 87 1.] A Geological Problem. 335 



and Souvignargues ; and Dr, Boue found human bones 

 mixed with others of extinct species at Lahr. In 1833, 

 human bones were found, together with several species 

 of the well-known extincl: cave mammals, in caves near 

 Liege, beneath a thick coat of stalagmite ; and about 

 the same period, the Rev. Mr. MacEnery collected from 

 the caves of Torquay, human bones and flint knives, 

 amongst a great variety of extincl: species, all under a crust 

 of stalagmite, upon which the head of a wolf reposed. 

 Amongst the bones of the mammoth and his contem- 

 poraries, found at Oreston, near Plymouth, at different 

 times before and after that period, the upper portion of 

 a humerus of man was detected, and immediately thrown 

 away as valueless on being pointed out to the possessor. 

 About the end of the last century, gypsum quarries were 

 opened in the Vale of Kostritz, in Upper Saxony. The 

 gypsum was intersected in every direction by caves and fis- 

 sures, which were filled with red clay containing clusters of 

 bones of mammalia, including man, elephant, rhinoceros, 

 horse, ox, elk, deer, reindeer, a great felis, hyaena, hare, and 

 rabbit. A fragment of an arm and a thigh-bone of a man 

 were dug out of the clay at a depth of eighteen feet ; and 

 eight feet below two phalanges of a rhinoceros. The facts 

 were carefully observed and first described by Baron von 

 Sclotheim, who remarked of the human bones, that they 

 were few, completely detached and isolated, always found 

 with the other animal remains, under the same relations, 

 not constituting connected skeletons, but gathered in various 

 groups.* 



In 1861, M. E. Lartet, the eminent French palaeontologist, 

 published a highly interesting description of a cave or 

 grotto at Aurignac, in the south of France. 



It appears that soifce years before the paper was written, 

 a man breaking stones for road repairs, observed a rabbit 

 run into a hole in a steep talus of debris, and was led 

 to thrust his arm in after it. He was not a little surprised 

 to find that he had seized and drawn out a large bone. 

 Prompted by curiosity, he cut a passage through the talus 

 until his progress was stayed by a large upright slab of 

 stone, which, on being removed, was found to have closed 

 the entrance of a small cavern, previously unknown and 

 unsuspected, and in front of which it had certainly been 

 artificially placed. In the grotto he found a quantity 

 of human bones and skulls, which naturally attracted a 



* Op. cit., pp. 93 — 98. 



