The researches of Dr. Schmerling[226] into the caves of Belgium, in 1829-30, revealed the fact that the animals so abundant in the caves of Germany, were equally numerous in those in the neighbourhood of Liége, and the flint flakes, and the fragments of human bones, which he found may possibly be of palæolithic age. He also discovered the remains of the porcupine, a species no longer living north of the Alps and Pyrenees. The systematic exploration, however, of the palæolithic caves in that district was not carried out until, in the year 1864, M. Dupont[227] began the investigation of those in the neighbourhood of Dinant-sur-Meuse, on behalf of the Belgian Government. His results, based upon the examination of upwards of twenty caves and rock-shelters, are published in a series of papers read before the Royal Academy of Belgium and subsequently in a separate work. Besides the remains of the animals living in Belgium within the historic period, he met with the ibex, chamois, and marmot, which are now to be found only in the mountainous districts of Europe, the tailless hare, lemming, and arctic fox, of the northern regions, the _Antelope saiga_, grizzly bear, lion, hyæna, and others. Most of these species occurred in refuse accumulations, their remains being in the fragmentary condition of those of the French caves. The associated implements are of the same type as those of Périgord, and some of them are ornamented in the same manner as, for example, that from the cavern of Goyet, Fig. 121, termed a “bâton de commandement,” but which, from its analogy with similar articles in the British Museum, is most probably an arrow-straightener. Those of flint are also of the same kind, and in several of the caves there was the same association of fragmentary human remains with the relics of the feasts as in the French refuse-heaps. _Trou de Naulette._ The human remains consisting of a lower jaw, ulna and metatarsal, discovered in the large cavern of Naulette,[228] on the left bank of the Lesse, in association with the broken remains of the rhinoceros, mammoth, reindeer, chamois, and marmot, are undoubtedly of palæolithic age, since they rested in an undisturbed stratum. M. Dupont gives the following section in descending order. METRES. 1. Sandy grey and yellow clay 2·90 2. Yellow grey clay with stones and bones of ruminants 0·45 3. Stalagmite. 4. Tufa. 5. Three bands of clay alternating with stalagmite. 6. Sandy clay with human bones at the depth of four metres. 7. Stalagmite. 8. Cave-earth with bones gnawed by hyænas. The human jaw is remarkable for its prognathism, which, according to Dr. Hamy, is greater than that which has been observed in any living races. The cave had afforded shelter to the hyænas before it had been used by man. _The Caves of Switzerland._