BLAKE — O:^ THE CRAKIA OF AJ^CIENT EACES. 



281 



Philos. Transact. 1860, p. 277) ; Dr. I'alconer (aeol. Journal, 1860, 

 p. 99) ; Dr. Schauffbausen (Nat. Hist. Keview, 1861, p. 155) ; Mr. 

 Busk (Nat. Hist. Eeview, 1861, p. 172) ; Mr. Lubbock (Nat. Hist. 

 Eeview, 1861, p. 489, and N. H. Eeview, 1862, p. 26); and Mr. 

 Dawkins (Proceedings of the Geological Society, 1862). 



In the Map which accompanies this paper, I have indicated the 

 locality of some of the most authentic remains, the antiquity of 

 which has been strongly advocated. It is not however intended to 

 be conveyed that any of the remains here indicated were contem- 

 poraneous. The contemporaneity of some of them with the extinct 

 mammalia is hitherto undemoustrated. It is certainly significant 

 that so many instances should occur in the extreme south-west of 

 England, to which the early Britons were driven by their Saxon con- 

 querors, and where the traditions of British local history and the 

 Cornubian dialect still survive. The remains from the Land's End, 

 Plymouth, and Mewslade may have been those of early Britons, and 

 their antiquity, unproven by any chemical or geological evidence, 

 may not date further back than the period of the Saxon conquest. 



Not the least point of interest in the table on page 228, is the fact 

 that in Gascony and Devonshire we have evidence of the contem- 

 poraneity of the horse and the ass, both animals domesticated by 

 man, with the extinct mammoths, rhinoceri, cave-lions, bears, and 

 hysenas. The question then arises, whether the fossil horses and 

 asses are specifically distinct from the existing, as, if identical, the 

 commonly received doctrine that the horses and asses were intro- 

 duced from a warmer climate must be essentially modified. It might 

 be supposed, that the horses and asses of the post-pliocene might 

 have been domesticated by the early pre-Gascons or pre-Devonians, 

 and have possibly aided them to exterminate the elephants and 

 rhinoceri. The association of human remains with those of Machai- 

 Todus at Kent's Hole is not a more remarkable fact than his asso- 

 ciation with Elephas antiquus and Hippopotamus major in the Somme 

 valley and in Sicily. Eemains of Hippopotamus major have also been 

 found in Kent's Hole. 



Switzerland and the Kjokkenmoddings, belonging to a later epoch 

 in the so-called " Stone Period," aiford us first evidence of man's 

 faithful companion, the domestic dog ; and the former locality indi- 

 cates also the proof of goats and sheep, specifically indistinguishable 

 from the existing species. AVith these in Switzerland are associated 

 remains of the Bos primigenius, the JBos frontosus of Nilsson, and 

 the Bos longifrons. The latter species was domesticated by the early 

 Europeans, and probably formed the souche primitive of our domestic 

 oxen. Whether some primigenius blood may not possibly exist in 

 our breeds, may be reasonably doubted; but the conclusions of Pro- 

 fessor Nilsson, who derives an existing breed of oxen from the Bos 



* The illustrations to this paper are taken from Professor Busk's paper (N. H. R, 

 p. 172, etc.) ; from Squier's Monuments of the Mississippi valley ; and Maury's ' In- 

 digenous Races.' I am indebted to Mr. Mackie for the use of the Muskham and Heathery 

 Burn relics, and for the sketches of the Eastham and Engis skulls. 



