2i 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
two vertical, and the transverse sections, and the lacunae of the Stones- 
field fossil ; with the sections of the heron and Pterodactyle bones 
for comparison. Of these figures, 13, 14, 15, 16 are magnified 300 
diameters ; the remainder 75 diameters. 
{To he continued.) 
COERESPONDENCE. 
Human lie mains and Flint flat chefs. 
Sir, — Some M^eeks ago, iii passing hurriedly througli Normandy, I 
visited the museum of the ancient town of Bayeux, and was surprised to 
see in the same glass-case several flint-hatchets, etc., and various human 
bones. I anxiously made inquiry of the ancient librarian in the room, 
who, with sparkling eyes, gave ready utterance to his satisfaction at my 
notice of the contents of the case, and entered fully into a relation of their 
discovery ; of which the foUowing is the substance of a lengthy communi- 
catioQ to the editor of ' L'l^cho Bayeusain ' of the 21tli Jul}^ 1863, by l^d. 
Lambert St. -A. Duvant. I am unaware whether this paper is known to 
t'le British geologists ; if it be not known, perhaps you will publish this 
communication, and draw attention to this locality; for it appears to me 
that this discovery, if fully verified, supplies the desideratum alluded to 
by Sir Charles Lyell in the following passage; — *' It is naturally a matter 
of no small surprise, that after we have collected many hundred flint-im- 
plements (including knives, many thousands), not a single human bone has 
yet been met with in the alluvial sand and gravel in any of the parts of 
Europe where the tool-bearing drift of the Post-Pliocene period has been 
investigated in valley deposits." (Lyell, ' Antiquity of Man,' p. 144.) 
Augustin Gilbert, a labourer, was occupied in excavating cartli for the 
repair of a road (in the month of Marcli, 1863), near the hamlet of Pont- 
lioch, on a portion of the territory of " D'Andrieu, called Les Perrelles," 
close to the banks of the river Senile ; and at the depth of 1 foot 10 inches 
below the surface, he discovered the remains of a human skeleton, near 
which was found a deer horn, lying by the upper part of the femur, and 
higher up, towards the skull, tw5 flint-hatchets close together ; a tusk of 
. an old boar, measuring inches in circumference, and a portion of a flint 
knife, of which only 3^ inches remain of the blade, which is slightly curved 
at its upper extremity, is still very sharp on both sides ; one face is flat, 
the other has two longitudinal grooves. The flint-hatchets are coated with 
an opaque substance ; they are of different dimensions, quite polished, and 
worked with remarkable skill ; the strongest is 6 inches by a width of 2f 
inches on the cutting edge, diminishing to 1^ inch at the other end. The 
smallest, 4f inches long, with 1^ inch on tlie cutting edge, reducing to 
■f of an inch at the other end. The knife is of the same class, as regards 
the working of the material. The human remains are in a good state of 
preservation ; one part of the maxillary bone contained seven perfectly 
sound teeth. The body was lying with its head towards the rising and the 
feet to the setting sun. 
I am. Sir, yours faithfully, 
Patkick Frasee, M.D. 
63, Orosvenor Street, Grosvenor Square, 
December I2th, 1863. 
