o'i 



THE FOSSIL SLOTH AT BIG BONE CAVE, TENN. [Jan. 15. 



were found a gnawed butternut, several pieces of grass, several small 



bat bones 

 and dung as 

 usual. The 

 position of 

 these latter 

 objects close 

 to the wall 

 caused us to 

 suspect that 

 they had slid 

 down from 

 the surface, 

 just as close 

 to the left 

 side twigs 

 of leaves 

 had proba- 

 bly been in- 

 truded i n 

 the rat holes. 

 But the ob- 

 jects found 

 at or below 

 the position 

 of the other 

 bones we re- 

 garded as of 

 equal age 

 with them, 

 and as truly 



Fig. 9 (x y^ ). — The fifth bone found (in Layer 2, depth about 14 

 inches). Dorsal vertebra. The signs of rodents gnawing, clearly 

 visible in the original, show faintly on the left projection. The 

 cartilage shows indistinctly in the illustration on the upper surface 

 of the left circular plate below the large orifice. 



indicative of the nature of the layer. 



Our observation of the position of all the bones showed that they 

 were not (with the exception of the two vertebra and epiphysis 

 (Figs. 7 and 8) in skeletal order : several epiphyses were loose ; the 

 calcaneum (heel bone) lay close to the vertebrae; the single rib 

 found was broken and turned. Unquestionably the bones had 

 been dragged and twisted out of place (inferentially by the 

 gnawing rats or the porcupines) since their deposition. Some 



