13 
the soil, with various depths of patina on their concave surfaces. On Thetford 
Warren I found what would he described as an ovate implement : it was a 
simple disc with one diameter somewhat longer than the other, and roughly 
chipped by being battered on the edges in a melee of gravel, for the wave- 
markings distinctly indicate that the blows were delivered on the rim, which 
was thus reduced from a cutting to a blunt edge, and unfitted for any 
fancied Palaeolithic purpose. 
It is generally admitted that the “ pitting,” as it has been called, on 
flints is due to natural causes, and both Mr. Rose,* F.G.S., and Mr. Hughes,! 
F.G.S., have attributed these cup-like cavities to the effects of frost ; and 
Mr. Hughes goes on to show that the naturally chipped flint is so like what 
he considers the human implement that he cannot distinguish between 
them. A common-sense view of the many discs of flint found on the soil, 
and of the perfect cavities from which they were produced, leads irresistibly 
to the conclusion that they result from natural agency. 
It is difficult to understand why Mr. Evans classes discoidal implements 
with those of the drift, J for they are truly surface flints, and are placed by 
other antiquaries in the Neolithic age. 
Scrapers . — These implements, according to Mr. Evans, occur both in the 
Neolithic and in the Palaeolithic age, and are described by him as being of 
the following forms “ Horse-shoe Scraper,” “ Kite Scraper,” “ Discoidal 
Scraper,” “ Oyster-shell Scraper,” “ Spoon-shaped Scraper,” “ Duck’s-bill 
Scraper,” “ Double-ended Scraper,” “ Hollow Scraper,” “ Ear-Scraper,” 
“ Straight Scraper,” “ Side Scraper,” and “ Scraper-like forms.” Mr. Evans 
further says that “ Scrapers are very abundant in the French caves . . . 
and are not wanting in Kent’s Cavern and in other British caves. They are, 
however, of very rare occurrence in the river drift, and when found are 
hardly ever trimmed to so regular and neatly chipped a segmental edge as 
those either from the surface or the caves. . . . They appear to have 
been held in the hand and used in some cases for cutting or chopping, and 
in others for scraping.” (Stone Implements , p. 563.) Several of these multi- 
form implements are figured to assist our comprehension ; of one it is said 
“ to have been somewhat worn away by use, whether as a saw or scraping 
tool it is difficult to say.” Another form of “implement” is classed by 
Mr. Evans as a scraper , figured and termed by Sir John Lubbock in his 
Pre-Historic Times as a knife, and described by Sir Edward Belcher as 
a plane. § 
With great respect I must leave this undefinable form of “ implement,” 
this undefined evidence of use, to speak for itself ; the multitude of forms I 
cannot grasp, the Babel of their tongues I cannot understand. I give it up 
in despair ; if any man can receive it, let him receive it. 
* Proceedings of Geologists’ Association , No. v. 
t Geological Repertory, vol. ii. p. 128. 
+ Ancient Stone Implements, p. 567. § Ibid., p. 269. 
