Dr. Hamy[1] practically admits this to be the ease when he follows Sir John Lubbock in classifying the caverns and river-deposits by the presence of the Cave-bear and Mammoth on the one hand, and of the Reindeer on the other, and by accommodating the theory to the facts by a series of transitions. But even his modification of M. Lartet's views does not explain the facts; for the "Station of Moustier," which he takes as the type of the series belonging to the age of the Mammoth, furnishes remains of the Reindeer, and those of Laugerie Haute and Laugerie Basse, which he refers to the age of the Reindeer, contain the Mammoth.
M. Dupont's[2] division of the caves of Belgium into the ages of the Mammoth and the Reindeer is equally unsatisfactory. In the Trou de Sureau, for instance, which he assigns to the former age, one Mammoth and many Reindeer were found; and in the other caves, which he assigns to the same date, more individuals were discovered of the Reindeer than of the Mammoth. In the Trou de Chaleux, which is referred to the later age, the Mammoth is found as well as the Reindeer.
Our present imperfect knowledge renders it impossible to subdivide the latest stage of the Pleistocene by means of the Mammalia, although the archæologists may be able to establish a rude sequence based on a comparison of the implements and weapons found in caves and the deposits of rivers. This principle of classification by the relative rudeness of such remains presupposes that the progress of man had been gradual, and that the rudest implements and weapons are the oldest. The difference, however, may have been due to different tribes or families having lived at the same time without intercourse with each other, as is now generally the case with savage communities, or to the supply of flint and chert for cutting-instruments being greater in one region than in another.
8. Range of Late Pleistocene Mammalia on the Continent.
The latest of the three divisions of the British Pleistocene fauna is widely spread throughout France and Germany and Central Russia. In the former country it has been proved by MM. Marcel de Serres, Lartet, Gaudry, Gervais[3], and others to have ranged from the English Channel to the shores of the Mediterranean, the only remains which have not been discovered in Britain being the Marmot, Chamois, Ibex, Antilope saiga, and striped Hyæna. In the following Table I have selected a few typical cases to show how the animals are associated together in various parts of Prance, Belgium, and Germany; and I have added those which have been discovered in
- ↑ Précis de Paléontologie Humaine, par le docteur G. T. Hamy, 8vo, Paris, 1870. Tableau I.
- ↑ Les temps Antéhistoriques en Belgique. L'Homme pendant les âges de la pierre. Par M. E. Dupont, 8vo, Bruxelles, 1871.
- ↑ M. de Serres, 'Les Oss. Foss. des Cavernes de Lunel Viel,' 4to. M. Lartet, op. cit. and 'La Seine,' par M. Belgrand, t. ii. 4to, 1871. M. Gaudry, a letter to the author; see also " Matériaux pour l'Histoire de l'Homme." M. Gervais, Zool. & Paléont. Françaises, 2nd edit., 4to, 1859; Nouvelles Recherches sur les animaux vertebrés, 4to, 1867–69.
