various patterns painted upon them in red. Such pebbles have not as yet been found in any British cave deposits. Some of the designs curiously resemble early alphabetic characters. There is some doubt as to the exact age of the contents of this cave, which not improbably may be Neolithic.
Such is a general summary of what appear to be the characteristics of these three divisions. It must, however, be remembered that, in some caves at all events, there is a probability of the contents belonging to more than one of these periods, where the occupation by man has been of sufficiently extended duration.
M. Philippe Salmon[1] has united the Palæolithic and Neolithic Ages into one which he regards as continuous, and sub-divides into six stages with transitions between them.
With regard to the fauna of the caves of Britain, I cannot do better than refer to the comprehensive list published by Professor Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S.;[2] and will merely cite some of the principal animals now either extinct or no longer found living in this country, the remains of which have occurred in association with objects of human manufacture in caverns:—Spermophilus citillus, pouched marmot; Mus lemmus, lemming; Lepus diluvianus, extinct hare; Lagomys pusillus, tail-less hare; Ursus arctos, brown bear; Ursus spelæus, cave-bear; Ursus ferox, grizzly bear; Hyæna crocuta, var. spelæa, cave-hyæna; Felis leo, var. spelæa, cave-lion; Felis pardus, leopard; Machairodus latidens, sabre-toothed tiger; Cervus megaceros, Irish elk; Cervus tarandus, reindeer; Bos primigenius, urus; Bison priscus, bison or aurochs; Rhinoceros tichorhinus, woolly-haired rhinoceros; Elephas primigenius, mammoth; hippopotamus amphibius, var. major, Hippopotamus. Further details as to the fauna of Kent's Cavern will be found on a subsequent page.
The fauna of the caves is in fact practically identical with that of the River Gravels.
The same author[3] has pointed out how vast is the difference between the mammalian fauna of the Pleistocene, Quaternary, or Palæolithic Period, and that of the Pre-historic or Neolithic Period. "Out of forty-eight well-ascertained species living in the former, only thirty-one were able to live on into the latter; and out of those thirty-one, all, with the exception of six,
