278 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



antiquity is easily seen to be an object of the greatest interest to the ethnolo- 

 gist as well as the geologist. The previous investigations of the Geological 

 Survey have clearly demonstrated the fact that man was contemporaneous with 

 the mastodon aud elephant, since the works of his hands have been repeatedly 

 found in such connection with the bones of these animals that it would be im- 

 possible to account for the facts observed on any other theory. (See Geology 

 of California, Vol. I, p. 252.) But in the case of the skull now laid before 

 the Academy, the geological position to which it must be assigned is, appa- 

 rently, still lower than that of the mastodou, since the remains of this animal, 

 as well as the elephant, which are so abundantly scattered over this State, are 

 always (so far as our observations yet extend) limited in their position to the 

 superficial deposits, and have never been found at any considerable depth below 

 the surface. There is every reason to believe that these great proboscidians 

 lived at a very recent date, (geologically speaking) and posterior to the epoch 

 of the existence of glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, and also after the close of 

 the period of activity of the now extinct volcanoes of that great chain. In 

 fact, they belong to the present epoch. The bed, on the other hand, in which 

 this skull was found, must have been deposited at a time when the volcanoes of 

 the Sierra were still in vigorous action, and, as seems to us highly probable 

 from a careful consideration of the geological structure of the region, previous 

 to the glacial epoch of the Sierra, and also previous to the erosion of the 

 canons of the present rivers. No pains will be spared, however, to investigate 

 all the conditions of the occurrence of this skull, and they will be fully reported 

 on at a future time. 



The portions of the skull which are preserved are, the frontal bone, the 

 nasal bone, the superior maxillary bone of the right side, the malar bones, a 

 part of the temporal bone of the left side, with the mastoid process and the 

 zygomatic process, and the whole of the orbits of both eyes. The base of the 

 skull is embedded in a mass of bone breccia and small pebbles of volcanic rock, 

 incrusted with a thin layer of carbonate of lime, which appears once to have 

 extended over the whole surface of the skull and of which a considerable portion 

 still remains, the rest having been removed apparently in the process of clean- 

 ing. Under the malar bone of the left side, a snail shell is lodged, and partly 

 concealed by the breccia of bone wedged in the cavity. This shell is the Helix 

 Mormonum, according to Dr. Cooper, a species now living in the region where 

 the skull was obtained. Although not competent to express a decided opinion 

 on the subject of the ethnological relations of this skull, I should suppose that it 

 belonged to the type of the Indians now inhabiting the foot-hills of the Sierra. 

 It is certain that the facial angle is not one indicating a low order of intellect. 

 The skull, however, seems to have been very thick and solid. It will be placed 

 in the hands of competent craniologists for examination and description, as soon 

 as reliable information has been obtained with regard to its occurrence, or 

 whenever all has been ascertained that can be. 



Dr. Macgowan made some remarks on the occurrence of earth- 



