288 BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
by pecking, and occur only on one side. This specimen has on its 
surface 26 of these conical holes. These range in size from 1^ of an 
inch in diameter, by ^ inch in depth, to a size very much smaller. 
Though differing in size the holes are all similar, and apparently 
have been produced in the same way. 
Dr. Rau has published a memoir* on these cavities, and inclines 
to give them a religious rather than a utilitarian character. It seems 
Fig. 1. Pitted Stone. (Natural size). 
more probable, however, that they are the accidental product of some 
ancient manufacturing process. Sir John Evansf thinks that similar 
stones found in caves of the Reindeer Period of the South of France 
were probably used as mortars. The specimen I have here figured 
could have been readily held on the knee by a workman and used for 
such a purpose. 
* Contrib. to North Am. Ethnology, Vol. V. 
t Ancient Stone Implements, p. 220. 
