116 



Letter to the Editor. 



Has Primigenius, and were often unbroken, but so brittle as to make it most 

 difficult to preserve them. I am afraid few or none have survived their long 

 and perilous journey to Wiltshire. A French gentleman whom we met at a later 

 visit pointed out this peculiarity to us, and told us excavations were on foot to 

 explore more fully the contents of the cave. 



The mixed soil of earth, burnt conglomerate, bones, and flints had once reached 

 many feet above our heads, as was shown by the mark on the sides ; but the 

 cave had been frequently examined in past times, and the contents thrown out 

 and dispersed. Even when we were there an immense mound remained outside, 

 in which we and others successfully searched for worked flints. 



Twelve years ago a very perfect human skeleton was found imbedded far down 

 in this soil by M. Bonfils, Curator of the Mentone Museum, and M. Riviere, a 

 Parisian savant. With the utmost caution this relic was removed to Paris, 

 where it can now be seen. Around it were ornaments of sea shells, and flint 

 weapons. There were also other human remains found, but none in so perfect 

 a condition. 



During last winter desultory excavations were carried on, and in the beginning 

 of February of this year M. Bonfils again made an important discovery. 



Some 12ft. or more below the level of the former burial he came upon a perfect 

 human skeleton, that of a man who, by the length and size of the thigh bone, 

 must have been of immense stature . Three very large masses of flint surrounded 

 the skull, on which one of them seems to have rested, and when moved to have 

 crushed it. The body was lying on its side with the knees gathered up. M. Bonfils 

 made a careful drawing of these three stones with the head as originally found. 

 He had not the funds at his disposal to insure a speedy and careful removal, and 

 his movements were further cramped by the cave being on Italian ground, and 

 by the fact of the master quarryman having a right to everything excavated from 

 the cliff. 



M. Bonfils, however, had the remains surrounded by a wooden frame and 

 separated from the soil, and left them one night ready for removal the next day, 

 taking with him only the partially-crushed skull and the thigh bone which was 

 loose. When he returned the next morning the wooden frame and the rest of 

 the skeleton had disappeared, and with them all the fruits of his many days' 

 labour over an object so precious to scientific enquirers, but so valueless to all 

 others ! The poor man was almost frantic with disappointment and annoyance ; 

 he made every possible effort to trace and recover the missing portions ; letters 

 on the subject appeared in the various Mentone parers, but down to the time 

 when I left Mentone in April nothing had been heard of what had so strangely 

 disappeared. 



Immediately on hearing of the find and subsequent disaster I paid a visit to 

 the cave, and saw the place from whence the skeleton had been removed. I got 

 down with difficulty into the hole, and as I stood upright the walls of black earth 

 filled with ancient remains rose up above my head. The ground on which we 

 had stood and worked out our first discoveries two months before must have been 

 8 or 9ft. above the level of the skeleton. From the cavity where the head had 

 Iain I picked out of a huge crumbling jawbone a white and perfect tooth of the 

 Bos Primigenius, which I still have. This cave apparently had not the 

 smooth rocky floor of the first three, but must originally have been a vast chasm 



