212 SOME NOTES ON THE EARLY HOMINIDiE 
The Heidelberg jaw must be referred to the first inter- 
glacial period, and the Piltdown skull to the second. 
There is a strong probability that the Piltdown skull 
belonged to a woman, the evidence for such a conclusion being 
based on the somewhat small cranial capacity, and also on 
account of the slender nature of the jaw and the smallness of 
the brow-ridges. 
Homo Neanderthalensis or Mousterian Man. Near Diissel- 
dorf the Diissel valley is much narrowed to form a 
gorge, called the Neanderthal. In this region are found 
several caves, among them being the far-famed Neanderthal 
cave, in which the well-known skull was found and from which 
the fourth species of the Hominidse has taken its name. This 
wonderful specimen was first described by Schaffhausen ; and 
Prof. Huxley, speaking of it, says : 4 Under whatever aspect we 
view this cranium, whether we regard its vertical depression, 
the enormous thickness of the superciliary ridges, its sloping 
occiput, or its long and straight squamosal suture, we meet 
with ape-like characters, stamping it as the most pithecoid of 
human crania yet discovered.’ These words of Huxley 
carry the same weight to-day as when they were uttered. 
Recognising the skull as human, but at the same time the 
most simian-like he had ever examined, he placed it on a lower 
level than the Australian, believing, however, that this race 
represents its closest relatives. 
When the skull was first examined there were many who 
doubted its human character : the famous Virchow attempting 
to elucidate the abnormal appearance of the skull-cap by 
ascribing its eccentricities to the effect of disease. 
New discoveries, however, followed which settled the ques- 
tion as to the normal nature of the Neanderthal specimen, each 
new piece of evidence acquired only going to strengthen Huxley’s 
dictum of 1868. 
At present there is a large amount of material representing 
the Mousterians. A few may be mentioned : A lower jaw found 
at La Naulette in 1866 ; a portion of a lower jaw from Sipka, 
1879 ; two skeletons from Spy, 1885 ; many fragments from 
Krapina ; the specimens from La Chapelle aux Saints and Le 
Moustier. 
