_Mauer._ Impressed by the similarity of the conditions at Mauer to those of the fossiliferous tufa-beds near Taubach and Weimar, Dr Schoetensack had anticipated the possibility of obtaining valuable fossil relics from the former locality. For some twenty years, Dr Schoetensack kept in touch with the workmen of Mauer, and thus when the jawbone was found, he was summoned at once. Even so, the jaw had been removed from its resting-place, and broken in two fragments. Yet there is no doubt as to the exact position in which it was found. Sand and löss (a fine earthy deposit) had accumulated above it to a thickness of seventy feet. The nature of the surroundings may be estimated by reference to the illustration (Fig. 20) reproducing Dr Schoetensack's photograph of the sand-pit. The sands which contained the mandible represent an alluvial deposit, and so far resemble the Trinil beds in Java. The attempt to institute an exact comparison would be unprofitable, but on the whole it would seem that, of the two, the Mauer sands represent the later stage. The fauna associated with the Mauer jaw includes such forms as _Elephas antiquus_, _Rhinoceros etruscus_, _Ursus arvernensis_, _U. deningeri_ (an ancestral form of _U. spelaeus_), together with a species of horse intermediate between _Equus stenonis_, and the fossil horse found at Taubach. The cave-lion, bison, and various deer have also been recognised. [Illustration: Fig. 20. View of the Mauer sand-pit. X (in white) position of jawbone when found. (From Birkner, after Schoetensack.)] The aspect of this collection shews a marked similarity to that of the so-called Forest-bed of Cromer, though at the same time indicating a later age. The Mauer jaw must therefore be assigned to the very earliest part of the Pleistocene epoch. In his original memoir, Dr Schoetensack gave no account of any associated 'industry,' in the form of stone implements. But now (1911) Professor Rutot unhesitatingly (though the reasons are not stated) ascribes to the horizon of the Mauer jaw, that division of the eolithic industries termed by him the "Mafflien." Upon the correctness of such a view judgment may well be reserved for the present. _Taubach_. The bone-bed (_Knochenschicht_) of Taubach whence the two human teeth were recovered, lies at a depth of some 15 feet (5·2 m.) from the adjacent surface-soil. No fewer than eleven distinct horizons have been recognised in the superincumbent strata. Palaeoliths had often been obtained from the same stratum as that which yielded the human teeth. Dr Weiss referred it to the first, i.e. the earlier of two inter-glacial periods judged to have occurred in this region. The associated fauna includes _Elephas antiquus_, _Rhinoceros merckii_, _Bison priscus_, with Cervidae and representatives of swine, beaver and a bear. The similarity of this assemblage to that of the Mauer Sands has been noted already.