SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
391 
on being sent to the well-known pakeontologist, M. Leymeire, proved to be 
molars and canines of the hyaena, cave tiger, horse, aurochs, &c. This 
and other circumstances induced M. Lartet to explore the cave. Its floor 
and the space on the outside consisted of a deposit of bones of various 
carnivorous and herbivorous animals, of which most of those in the outer 
space have been split, as if for extraction of the marrow, and subsequently 
gnawed ; and in the earth among these, various human bones and a tooth 
were met with, and throughout the mass a number of rude bone and flint 
weapons. Below all this was a layer of ashes, about six or eight inches 
thick, which did not extend into the grotto. The base of this old fireplace 
was made regular by filling in the inequalities, and had a partial paving 
with thin pieces of sandstone, now burnt red. Among the ashes were 
found cropolites of the hyaena, and the great bones of the rhinoceros and 
aurochs, which were split and gnawed, and often reddened and blackened 
by the action of the fire. Some of the bones have shallow cuts, as though 
made with the edge of some sharp instrument used to remove the flesh. 
And, singularly enough, there were found among the ashes a hundred flints* 
of which the greater number were of the kind called knives ;* a few were 
sling-stones, rendered more than usually destructive by the number of their 
sharp angles. The part of the grotto in which the skeletons were found 
was closed by a large stone ; and M. Lartet regards the people entombed as 
those who accumulated the bones, and remarks that none of the animal 
bones within the cave are gnawed, and were, therefore, probably deposited 
at successive interments. Be this as it may, there can be but little doubt 
that the date of the cave is anterior to that of the Amiens and Abbeville 
gravels, though the conclusion rests on more general principles than 
M. Lartet advances. 
Danish naturalists, as a memoir by Mr. Lubbock tells us, have discovered 
that in very ancient pre-historic times their country was peopled by a race 
of Molluscophagi. These people, who used no weapons but rudely-fashioned 
flints, lived near the seashore, and have left evidence of their existence in 
deposits of shells so extensive that they were long mistaken for raised sea- 
beaches. The shells, however, are all full grown, and consist of species 
which are not naturally found together, being chiefly the oyster, the cockle, 
the mussel, and the periwinkle ; and more rarely the whelk ( Buccinwn 
undatmi), the hedge snail ( Helix memoralis ), and one or two others. 
Several fish are found ; but chiefly the herring, the dab, and the eel. The 
most common mammals are the stag, the roebuck, wild boar, wild bull, 
and seal ; and with them are found rude flint implements. Many of the 
bones still bear the marks of knives.f These heaps of refuse are known 
to the Danes as Kjokkenmoddings, that is, kitchen-middings, which, in 
fact, they are now proved to be. They vary in thickness from 3 to 5 
to 10 feet, are sometimes nearly a quarter of a mile long, and 150 to 
200 feet broad. Sometimes, however, instead of being formed about 
' It is interesting to remark that the native Mexican barbers formerly 
used knives of obsidian to cut their customers’ hair and beards. 
+ Every bone which contains marl-ow has been broken for its extraction* 
