PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



295 



lose much of its force if this Ci/rena were proved to belong also to the newer 

 geological horizon. The question is now the more important, as this shell has 

 been fouud by Mr. Prestwich in the beds that contain flint implements at 

 Abbeville. 



The author proceeded to show that some gravels and sands near Hull in 

 Yorkshire, formerly described by Professor Phillips, contain abundance of the 

 Ci/rena fluffiin&lis, associated with twenty-two species of marine shells, two of 

 which have Arctic characters, the others being common littoral forms. These 

 gravels and sands were proved, by well sections and other exposures, especially 

 by borings and trenches made by the author and Mr. T. J. Smith, P.G.S., of 

 Hull, to overlie the Boulder-clay. 



May 8, 1861. 



1. "Description of two Bone caves in the Mountain of Ker, at Massat, 

 in the Department of the Arriege." By M. Alfred Pontan. Communicated 

 by M. E. Lartet, Por. Mem. G. S. 



The valley of Massat, on the northern side of the Pyrenees, is of triangular 

 shape, its northern angle being narrowed by the projecting limestone mountain 

 of Ker. Among the fissures and grottos that traverse this mountain in every 

 direction are two caves in particular; one is situated near the top, at about 

 100 metres above the valley ; the other is near the base, at about 20 metres 

 above the river. They both open towards the north. In the upper cave M. 

 Pontan found a sandy ioam wit h pebbles (the pebbles being of rocks different 

 from that of the mountain), extending inwards for 100 metres, and containing 

 a large quantity of bones of Gamivora, llumimtitia, and llodentia ; those of the 

 great Cave-bear, a large Ili/cena, and a large Felts being the most numerous. 

 On the surface some fragments of pottery, an iron poignard, and two Roman 

 coins were found, with a quantity of cinders and charcoal : and at a depth of 

 more than three feet in the ossiferous loam another bed of cinders and charcoal 

 was met with, and in this M. Pontan found a bone arrow-head and two human 

 teeth ; the latter were at a distance of five or six metres one from the other. 



In the lower cavern a blackish earth, with large granitic and other pebbles, 

 was found to contain bones of the Red-deer, Antelope, Aurochs, and Lynx ; 

 also worked flints and numerous utensils of bone (of deer chiefly), such as 

 bodkins and arrows ; the latter have grooves on their barbs, probably for 

 poison. Some of the bones bear marks made of incisions by sharp instruments 

 in flaying or cutting up the carcases. In each cavern a chasm crosses the gal- 

 lery and terminates the deposits ; in the upper cave at 100 metres, in the lower 

 one at about seven metres from the entrance. 



The author argues that, from the facts which he has noticed, these caverns 

 must have been subjected simultaneously to the effects of a great transient 

 diluvial cataclysm coming from the N.N.W. or West, in the opposite direction 

 to the present course of the waters of that region ; that man and all the other 

 animals the remains of which' are buried in these caves existed in the valley 

 before this inundation ; and that the greater part of the animals inhabited the 

 caves, but that man was not contemporary with all of them. 



2. " Notes on some further Discoveries of Plint Implements in the Drift ; 

 with a few suggestions for search elsewhere.' 5 By J. Prestwich, Esq., P.R.S., 

 Treas. G.S. 



Since the author's communication to the Royal Society last year on the 

 discovery of Plint Implements in Pleistocene beds at Abbeville, Amiens, 

 and Hoxne, similar implements have been found in some new localities in this 

 country. 



In Suffolk, between Icklingham and Mildenhall, Mr. Warren has met with 

 some specimens in the gravel of llampart Hill in the valley of the Lark. 

 This gravel is of later date than the Boulder-clay of the neighbourhood. In 



