Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/384

324 irravadicus (whether cooked or not cannot be told) they amused themselves rubbing down the substance of the bone, and making a rude ornamentation by facetting it in this way. Knowing this much about life in these extremely remote times, one naturally wants to know more, especially seeing the great importance of such discoveries in the study of that science which seeks to view Man in his true perspective in the evolution of life on the earth.

As an amateur enquirer into these matters, and finding myself within comparatively easy reach of Yenangyoung, it seemed to me a pity not to make further search, and try to discover further evidences which would place the matter beyond doubt; and this paper is a brief record of two visits made by Lieut.-Col. Nichols, R.A.M.C, and myself, in December, 1900, and December, 1901, with this object. I am bound to confess, however, that our results not only do not corroborate Dr. Noetling in his discovery of Tertiary Man, but cannot, I think, fail to cast a doubt on the age of the flint flakes and chips picked up by him. And, lest it should be considered to be mere rashness in an amateur to venture to discuss technical subjects with a professor of palaeontology, I may say that I shall endeavour to record only facts, leaving discussions to others; and that, after all, an amateur can pick up stones almost as well as a professor, while a small amount of geological knowledge will suffice to determine whether, at any particular part of the plateau at Yenangyoung, so conspicuous a band as the ferruginous conglomerate comes out on the surface, or is buried one hundred feet or so below it.

If I cannot resist at times venturing to draw conclusions from facts, such conclusions are no doubt of no value whatever, and may be disregarded.

Our first visit to Yenangyoung, in the Christmas holidays of 1900, may be called a failure, so far as the flints are concerned. We were not aware beforehand of the extremely confusing nature of the ground, intersected as it is in all directions by a network of ravines, and we were disappointed at not finding at Yenangyoung a copy of Dr. Noetling's Geological Map, in which he had marked the spot where he found the flints with No. 49. The Township Officer kindly searched in his office, but the map was not forthcoming, and all idea of locating the flints had to be abandoned,