202 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



kinds of stags, especially the muntjac, differing from them in the 

 persistency of its horns. Although the Palasotragus is very large, 

 there are others found in Pikerimi much larger." 



M. Gaudry showed two skulls which proved that in all probability 

 the two species named by M. "Wagner Antihpe speciosa, and 

 A. Pallasii were one and the same. 



This new fossil reminds one, by its form, its proportions, and the 

 position of the axes of the horns, of the sub-genus Damalis ot 

 of Hamilton Smith, and even more of the sub-genus Oryx of de 

 Blainville, in which, following Ogilby's example, he includes the 

 sub-genus Aigocerus of Demarest, now called Hippotragus ; but 

 it differs from both in its dental system. 



M. Gaudry has also discovered the bones of an antilope taller 

 than any of those of which the skeletons are in the museum at Paris, 

 even including the Oreas canna : he proposes to name this Palceoryx. 

 A very similar skull, though much smaller, has also been found by 

 him. Besides the difference in size, the horns are more massive in 

 proportion to the size of the head, and natter. This species he has 

 named Palceoryx j^arvidens. 



On the Substances Worked by the Primitive Inhabitants of Gaul. 



M. Robert has presented to the Academy of Sciences a supplement 

 to his geological researches on the substances, more particularly stones, 

 worked by the primitive inhabitants of Gaul. 



In his preceding memoir he had suggested that the enormous 

 blocks of stone found suspended, as it were, in the centre of fluviatile 

 deposits, could only have got there by means of icebergs at the time 

 of the breaking up of the ice on the river which flowed through 

 primitive France. 



It supported of this opinion that all the Latin authors agree in stating 

 that the climate was very cold at the time of the conquest, and that 

 the rivers were often sufficiently frozen over to allow the Gauls to 

 move easily from place to place, whence one can infer that when the 

 thaws arrived, occasions were furnished to the liberated ice to carry 

 boulders along with it. 



As stated in that previous memoir, M. Robert affirms that the 

 deposits along the rivers in which the Celtic remains have been found 

 have been formed by the water which previously filled the valleys. 

 He furthermore adds, that the great thickness of the beds of soil, 

 which cover the Celtic remains, shows that a very long period has 

 elapsed since their deposit. 



M. Robert does not admit that the first men in Europe were con- 

 temporaneous with the great pachyderms, the elephant, mastodon, 

 rhinoceros, &c. On the contrary, he considers that an enormous 

 lapse of time separated their epochs ; for the remains of those found 

 with the Celts are very much rolled and worn, while the bones of 

 the auroch, horse, &c, are with difficulty distinguished from those of 

 the present day. 



