On a Bone Cave at Lower Warbnrton. 373 



taken in the fishermen's nets. The absence of the wild goose 

 and other common species might be explained by supposing 

 that the cave frequenters were not acquainted with the use of 

 weapons which enabled them to kill such wary birds, and 

 that they only occasionally caught a solan goose in the pro- 

 cess of fishing. Neither Mr Bryson nor Mr Beattie notice 

 the occurrence of fish bones in the cave, nor is there a 

 vestige of any among the remains preserved in the museum. 

 The leg and wing bones of the solan goose are sometimes 

 entire, and sometimes broken across, but in no instance are 

 they split open. 



The bones of the mammalia consist chiefly of fragments 

 of the long bones, and the shafts of the marrow bones are 

 invariably split open. The articulating ends of the hinge- 

 joints are generally attached to the shafts, and are entire ; 

 but the spongy ends of the ball and socket-joints, as of the 

 humerus and femur, are detached and more or less destroyed, 

 either by the gnawing of some animal or by natural decay. 

 The human bones are in very good preservation ; the piece 

 of radius is 7 inches in length, and is not split open. 

 There are several fragments of calcined bones, but I am 

 unable to determine whether these belong to the human 

 skeleton or not. The two fragments of coarse pottery are 

 both ornamented outside with a small cord pattern ; one, 

 which is charred inside, has been part of a vessel 10 inches 

 in diameter ; the other is not charred, and has measured 

 7 inches in diameter. Flat, oval, or round rolled stones are 

 abundant ; on none of these have I detected the chipped 

 edges noticed on the Kjokken-moddings stones, and sup- 

 posed to be evidence of their having been used in the forma- 

 tion of flint implements. 



There are few parts of Scotland richer in the remains of 

 the stone period than Angus and Mearns. In some localities 

 implements or flint flakes are turned up at every ploughing 

 of the fields. The absence of flint from the cave collection 

 is not of great moment, for it must be borne in mind that 

 not a thousandth part of the debris was preserved, or ex- 

 amined ; and it is quite likely that stone implements and 



