THE FOSSIL SLOTH AT BIG BOXE CAVE, TENX. 



49 



of oats, the deposit answered every disturbance with a cloud of pun- 

 gent dust. Nuts, sticks, fur and moss were easily seen in it by 

 candle light, but more minute search in the cave and a subsequent 

 study of the speci- 



mens preserved, 

 revealed at vari- 

 ous points, 



the 

 seeds, grass, bark, 

 leaves, hair and 

 small botanical 

 fragments de- 

 scribed later. In 

 the midst of this 

 interesting rub- 

 bish, often in 

 contact with 

 seeds, nuts and 

 hair, appeared the 

 twelve sloth bones 

 here shown, pro- 

 truding from the 

 vertical side of the 

 trench at depths 

 of from eight to 

 fourteen inches. 



No fear of break- 

 ing them, hard, 

 dry and strong as 

 they were, and I 

 question whether 

 they needed the 

 dose of hardening 

 solution which all 

 but four of them 



have since received, and which has somewhat discolored them. In 

 the dusty dimness we saw the cartilage, marked the signs of rodent 

 gnawing,^ and numbered each bone with India ink as it came out. 



1 The bone gnawing of rodents, done with tlieir incisor teeth, often characteristic of 

 bones found by me in American caves, differs greatly from the traces of mastication 

 of the larger carnivoras. The latter, as dogs for instance, working sideways with 



PROC. AMER. rniLOS. 80C. XXXVI. 154. D. PRINTED APRIL 21, 1897 



Fig. 6 (.x %). — The second bone found (in Layer 2, 

 depth I foots inches). Dorsal vertebra. A minute fragment 

 of attached cartilage is not visible in the photograph. 

 The marks of gnawing are upon the opposite side of the 

 specimen. 



