Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/382

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THE ZOOLOGIST.

oil-fields with a view to reporting on their economic value, and was incidentally attracted by the Tertiary remains that occur at this locality. The ferruginous conglomerate, which proved to be very useful in determining the geological features of the oil-fields, was stated to contain numerous remains of Hippotherium antelopinum and Aceratherium perimense, and was therefore held to be either of Pliocene or Upper Miocene age. The learned Doctor found these chipped flints on a shelf of ferruginous conglomerate on the eastern slope of a ravine high above its bottom, but below the edge, in such a way that he could not conceive how they could have been brought there by any foreign agency, and he says that, to the best of his knowledge, he really found them in situ.

While Dr. Noetling was still occupied at Yenangyoung, Mr. Oldham paid a visit to that place, and they made a search together for more flints in the place where the first had been found, but without success; and in his paper on "The Alleged Miocene Man in Burma" ('Natural Science,' vii. 1895, p. 201), Mr. Oldham stated that the flints are not confined to the outcrop of the ferruginous conglomerate, but are scattered over the surface of the plateau above. He further considers the flints to be natural products.

In answer to this, Dr. Noetling published, in 'Natural Science,' x. 1897, p. 233, a further article "On the Discovery of Chipped Flint Flakes in the Pliocene of Burma," objecting that, when the implements occur on the plateau, as near Minlin-toung, at the southern extremity of the dome, they were strictly confined to the outcrop of the ferruginous conglomerate; and in this article he introduced the facetted femur of Hippopotamus irravadicus, which he found in a small streak of the conglomerate not far from the flints, and which, as he believes can only have been facetted by human agency. This he puts forward in support of the Pliocene or Miocene flint implements as further proof of the existence of the human species in Burma in Tertiary times.

Since the publication of these discoveries many writers have referred to them, and in most instances have accepted them as proof of the vast antiquity of man in Burma, and no doubt, besides the few references given here, many more could be found by anyone with access to a good library. In Mandalay, however,