the notice of scientific inquirers by the discovery of flint flakes and implements, and fragments of rude pottery, in conjunction with the remains of these animals in several ossiferous caverns both in England and on the continent.[1] Among the former may be mentioned Kent's Cavern near Torquay, and among the latter those of Bize, of Pondres, and Souvignargues, and those on the banks of the Meuse, near Liège, explored by Dr. Schmerling, where human bones were also found, apparently washed in at the same time as the bones of the extinct quadrupeds.[2] In some ossiferous caves in the Brazils similar discoveries had also been made by Dr. Lund and M. Claussen, and, from the condition and situation of the human remains, Dr. Lund concluded that they had belonged to an ancient tribe that was coeval with some of the extinct mammalia.
But it was always felt that there was a degree of uncertainty attaching to the evidence derived from the deposits in caverns, owing to the possibility of the relics of two or more entirely distinct periods becoming intermixed in such localities, either by the action of water or by the operations of the primitive human occupants of the caves, which prevented any judgment being firmly founded upon it.
Attention has however been lately again called to this question by the fact, that, in the excavations which have been carried on under the auspices of the Royal and Geological Societies in the cave at Brixham in Devonshire, worked flints, apparently arrow-heads and spear-heads, have been discovered in juxtaposition with the bones of the Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Ursus speæus, Hyæna spelæa, and other extinct animals.[3] One flint implement in particular was met with immediately beneath a fine antler of a reindeer and a bone of the cave bear, which were imbedded in the superficial stalagmite in the middle of the cave.
In addition to this, investigations have been made by Dr. H. Falconer in the Grotta di Maccagnone near Palermo, where, imbedded in a calcareous breccia beneath the stalactitic covering of the roof, he observed "coprolites of the Hyæna, splinters of bone, teeth of ruminants and the genus Equus, together with comminuted fragments of shells, bits of carbon, specks of argillaceous matter resembling burnt clay, and fragments of shaped siliceous objects." These objects in flint closely resemble the obsidian knives from Mexico, and the flint knives or flakes so frequently found in all parts of the world ; and it is to be remarked that, though they were in considerable abundance in the breccia, any amorphous fragments of
