24 JANUARY 1947, Page 17

THE LASCAUX CAVE

Sul,—I am grateful to Mr. Elkin for writing, and you for publishing, 3 letter that corrects, to my advantage, a venial oversight in Mr. Middleton's article. It is true that the description of the Lascaux Cave in The New Statesman and Nation appeared some five weeks before Mr. Brodrick's description in The Observer. Nevertheless, the scoop, I fear, is his, not mine. As I pointed out in my article, the first eye-witness account of the cave to appear in England was published last July in Mr. Brodrick's excel- lent book, Cross Channel.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

RAYMOND MORTIMER.

New Statesman and Nation. so Great Turnstile.