WCP5256

[1]¹[p. 5]

Mr. C. A. Wilson said he had received a letter from his cousin, Mr. A. R. Wallace, concerning a question which he asked him about the fossil man of Mentone, in the South of France. Mr. Wallace said:—"The fossil man of Mentone to which you refer did not, I believe, add much to our knowledge of the antiquity of man. It was probably not older than other remains found in the caves of the South of France, and it appears to have been taken away without sufficient care having been taken to ascertain its exact position and all the minute details of its surroundings, which might have enabled some better opinion of its age to be formed. As a perfect skeleton of a pre-historic man it is interesting, but not as being of any remarkable proved antiquity. I do not know if any special work has been published on it. I do not consider it nearly so interesting or instructive as the annual reports on the exploration of Kent's cavern, given in the Transactions of the British Association, and generally also in full in 'Nature.'"