_France._--The researches of Buckland into the caves of Great Britain, and of Goldfuss and others into those of Germany, and more especially the publication of the “Ossemens Fossiles,” by Cuvier, gave an impetus to cave-exploration in France which yielded the same results as in our own country. The mammalia obtained from the cave of Fouvent (Haut Saone) in 1800 were described in the “Ossemens,” as well as those from Gondenans. In the Gironde, the Cave of Avison was explored by M. Billaudel in 1826-27. In the south, Marcel de Serres, aided by MM. Dubrueil and Jeanjean, examined the important Cave of Lunel-viel in 1824, and published their results in a work that holds the same position in France as the “Reliquiæ Diluvianæ” in England. The caverns of Pondres, Souvignargues, and of Bize were explored, the two first by M. Christol in 1829, the last by M. Tournal in 1833, and those of Villefranche (Pyrénées-orient), Mialet (Gard), and Nabrigas (Lozère) were described by De Serres in 1839, who subsequently added those of Carcas-sonne to the list in 1842. In this year MM. Prevost and J. Desnoyers explored the caves of Montmorency in the neighbourhood of Paris, and described the remains discovered in those of Bicêtre. The Cave of Pontil (Hérault) described by M. de Serres in 1847, was proved in 1864, by Professor Gervais, to contain two distinct strata, the neolithic lying over the palæolithic, as in Kent’s Hole.[16] In 1860,[17] the famous Cave of Aurignac was proved, by the investigations of Professor Lartet, to have been inhabited by man in the life-time of the extinct mammalia. Three years later the caves of Périgord were explored by that gentleman, along with Mr. Christy, and yielded results which mark a new era in the history of man in the remote past. From the remarkable collection of implements and weapons, the habits and mode of life of the occupants can be ascertained with tolerable certainty, and from their comparison with the like articles now in use among savage tribes, it may be reasonably inferred that they were closely related in blood to the Eskimos. This most important question will be investigated in its proper place, in the chapter relating to the palæolithic caves of France. Professor Lartet, M. Louis Lartet, Sir Charles Lyell, and other eminent observers believe further, that the interments that have been discovered in Aurignac and in Cro Magnon,[18] in Périgord, are to be assigned to the same relative age as the occupation of the caves by man. From the fact, however, that the skeletons in both these cases were _above_ the strata accumulated by the palæolithic cave-dwellers, it may be concluded that they were deposited after those strata were formed, in other words, that they are of a later age.