628 The American Naturalist. [July, 
establish the conclusion, while objections to the final value of all such 
cave layer tests for Man’s antiquity must be thoughtfully weighed. 
The first is suggested by Professor Cope, that as the caves explored 
by me lack fossil remains, the old (Plistocene) ends of caves with 
their animal and, if we can believe it, human remains, have probably 
been worn away. Caves, therefore, would not tell the whole human, 
as they do not tell the whole animal story, since Man may have in- 
habited parts of caves which have disappeared. 
This, if true, would exclude the alleged Tertiary Man of Thenay or 
Otta from caves, but would leave us our witnesses for any possi 
Plistocene blade chipper of Trenton and Madisonville. 
Another objection to cave evidence is advanced by Dr. Brinton. 
Like the Veddas of Ceylon (who are supposed, on the authority of the 
brothers Sarasin, to have avoided rock shelters), early Man, he sug- 
gests, was probably arboreal and did not inhabit caves. But continual 
avoidance of available and conspicuous natural shelters by primitive 
peoples anywhere is hard to imagine. We have the trace of all kinds 
of Paleolithie, Neolithic and post-Neolithie peoples in caves in Europe 
and the evidence of explorers as to still existent savages visiting caves 
is scanty and insufficient. 
If we are not hunting “ Cave Dwellers,” and if proof of Man's pres- 
ence is all we want, then a few surface gathered trouser buttons and 
bottle chips will do for the White Man, arrowheads and bone needles. 
for the Indian, and a breccia—let us suppose with Mylodon teeth and 
* Turtlebacks"—for some one else. Nothing short of cave avoidance 
by the savage will rob us of the evidence which a fire kindler or two 
in a century would suffice to furnish. 
. C. MERCER. March, 1894. 
