1897.] THE FOSSIL SLOTH AT mCr ]K)NE CAVE, TEXN. 59 



Other large animal that we, or our guides previously, were able to 

 find at the spot. But the objects found in the rat holes could not 

 reasonably be associated with the bones. Though positively testi- 

 fying to the presence of men as well as of animals in the cave, the 

 charred torch sticks and other articles had been transported from 

 their original position in the manure; and while it was certain that 

 objects found in the superficial Layer i (including the torch ends, 

 see Fig. 2), were more modern than the sloth bones, the rat-hole 

 specimens had lost their true time relation to the sloth. If not all 

 intruded downward from above, and so presumably more modern 

 than the bones, the collective age of all the specimens was doubt- 

 ful and offered no evidence of the contemporaneity of man and 

 the Megalonyx. 



On the other hand, no sign of disturbance was presented by the 

 texture or contents of the middle portion of Layer 2. There the 

 objects found at various points, and particularly close to the bones, 

 seemed fairly to be regarded as ingredients of the deposit. Un- 

 doubtedly they represented plants and animals in existence at the 

 time the bones had been deposited. 



As we dug on with shovel, hands and trowels, narrowly observing 

 that part of the manure (in many cases preserved by us in bags) 

 lying in immediate contact with the bones, our work revealed by 

 reasonable inference a series of 



Objects as Old as the Bones. 



In the handfuls of refuse removed from close proximity to the 

 sloth bones and preserved in bags were found, as identified by Mr. 

 Rhoads (see Fig. 23), numerous tufts of the fur (also found in the 

 rat holes), a comparatively large excrement quite unlike the other 

 coprolites in size and shape, attributed by Mr. Rhoads to an her- 

 bivorous animal (see Fig. 17 object 8 and Fig. 5 object 3). Of the 

 common coprolites previously mentioned, the larger and scarcer ones 

 containing fine shining particles of undigested hulls and skins of 

 nuts, showed that the porcupine {^ErcthizoJi dorsatus), guided by 

 other senses than sight, had been continually present during the 

 formation of Layer 2. So testified a hair from the back of one of 

 these animals (Fig. 17 object 16). 



Eight beautifully preserved minute jaws and several little bones 

 were identified by Dr. Harrison Allen as the remains of two kinds 

 of still existing bats, Adclonycteris fusca (see Fig. 17 objects 17) 



