236 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
deposits above the stalagmite ; but instead of them there were the 
bones of the cave-lion, cave-hyena, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, 
wild bull, Irish elk, reindeer, grizzly bear, wild-cat, horse, beaver, &c. 
These records give us some strange glimpses of past humanity 
in the south of England. They prove that palaeolithic Man fre- 
quented this cavern as a hunter of the great extinct mammals which 
formerly roamed over the country. Then, for some reason or other, 
probably of a climatal nature, came the Stalagmitic period, during 
which the cave was seldom frequented by Man or animals. How 
long this continued it is impossible to say ; but when the conditions 
which induced it passed away, Man and the surrounding animals 
again resorted for shelter to its gloomy recesses. During the 
deposition of the stalagmite, the records of the cavern are almost 
silent as to what was going on outside. When they are again 
resumed, how different is the tale they tell. Everything, man and 
beast, is changed ! Were Palaeolithic Man to reappear on the scene, 
he would hardly recognise his own kindred amidst the luxuries of 
the Bronze age. But the greatest and saddest change to him 
would be in the animal world ; and with the disappearance of the 
mammoth, the great Irish elk, and other big game with which he 
was familiar, he would probably think that life was not worth 
living in such degenerate days. 
Among the so-called fossil remains of Man those known as “ les 
hommes de Spy ” appear to me to be the most important. In 1886 
two skeletons were found deeply buried in undisturbed debris at 
the entrance to a grotto called Belche-aux-Koches at Spy-sur- 
rOrneau, in the province of Namur, Belgium. The interior of the 
grotto had been examined more than once, but in front of it there 
was a terrace, projecting 13 yards, which had not been previously 
excavated. It was in this terrace that MM. Lohest and De Puydt 
made excavations which unearthed the skeletons. The outer 
skeleton was found at a distance of 26 feet from the entrance to 
the cave, under a mass of rubbish 12 feet 6 inches in depth, and 
composed of four distinct strata, none of which appeared to have 
been hitherto broken through. It lay on the right side, across the 
axis of the cave, with the hand resting on the lower jaw, and the 
head towards the east. The other skeleton was 8 feet nearer the 
present entrance to the cave, but its position was not determined 
