352 A. SMITH WOODWARD [November 



The Director of the La Plata Museum, with the characteristic 

 energy which has established the fame of that great seat of learning, 

 determined that no time must be lost in solving the problem of 

 Neomylodon, so far as careful explorations could accomplish it. Dr. 

 Eudolph Hauthal was accordingly deputed last April to undertake 

 further diggings in the " Cueva Eberhardt," as the now celebrated 

 cavern is named, and the results, just published, prove to be of the 

 deepest interest. 1 These further discoveries include nearly all the 

 important parts of the skeleton of the animal, evidently broken by 

 man and clearly associated with relics of man himself. 



It now appears that the remains of the so-called Neomylodon are 

 not found at the exposed entrance of the cavern, which is of very large 

 proportions (30 metres high), but occur only in an inner chamber 

 which has every appearance of having been artificially constructed by 

 cross-barriers. At a short distance from the entrance there is a rude 

 wall of tumbled blocks extending the whole way across, except a 

 narrow gangway left at one side. On passing through this the great 

 chamber just mentioned is reached, and another wall-like barrier 50 

 metres further inwards extends completely across the cave from side 

 to side, preventing any ingress except by scrambling. In the middle 

 of the chamber there is an artificial mound. The floor proved to be 

 covered with a layer of dust and stones, varying from 30 centimetres 

 to a metre in thickness. In it at one spot were found numerous shells 

 of mussels mingled with the broken bones of guanaco and deer — evi- 

 dently the remains of the food of man. Beneath the surface layer 

 near the inner barrier was discovered a great mass of excrement of a 

 herbivorous animal, in some places more than a metre in depth. Most 

 of the material was in the form of impalpable dust, which almost 

 choked the workmen ; but a few large lumps were in a good state of 

 preservation, and rivalled the droppings of the elephant in size. Part 

 of the heap showed clear indications of having been burned. Nearer 

 the middle of the chamber was dug up a considerable accumulation of 

 dry cut hay in a good state of preservation. In the lower layer — in 

 the excrement, the hay, and the surrounding rubbish — were found 

 numerous broken bones of the so-called Neomylodon, belonging to 

 several individuals, both old and young, with another well-preserved 

 piece of skin. There was also evidence of an extinct horse, and a 

 large unknown carnivorous animal ; while a human skeleton had 

 previously (in 1895) been taken out of a niche in the wall of the 

 chamber. 



Summarising the results of his work, Dr. Hauthal specially empha- 

 sises the following facts : — 



" 1. That the deposit of excrement was confined to the space 



1 R. Hauthal, S. Roth, and R. Lehmann-Nitsche, "El Mamifero Misterioso de la Pata- 

 gonia, 'Grypotheriumdomesticum,' " Revista del Musco de La Plata, vol. ix. p. 409, with 

 five plates (Aug. 1899). 



