2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8l 



floor is now covered to a depth of nearly lo feet. On the top of 

 the ridge bounding the west side of this valley are situated at least 

 three caves which had not been previously examined. One of these 

 has no opening other than a hole in the roof about 6 x lo feet in 

 diameter. The chamber beneath this hole appeared to extend down- 

 ward more than 20 feet. Its lateral extent could not be determined, 

 and I made no attem]it to explore it. One of the other caves is 

 unusually dee]), while the third is of more normal form, but rather 

 narrow and crooked. In both I found abimdant remains of extinct 

 mammals. 



In all of these caves the deposits began at or near the surface and 

 continued downward to a depth of about four feet. The bones then 

 ceased, and further digging proved so fruitless that it was nowhere 

 continued to rock bottom. Wherever bones occurred the deposit could 

 be discovered in a few minutes' work with shovel or trowel ; and at 

 any spot where the first few minutes' digging revealed nothing the 

 result of further excavation to a depth of six feet was fruitless. 

 Mr. Brown and Mr. Burbank had previously found this to be the case. 



Before going to St. Michel I spent a day working in a cave at 

 Diquini. near Port-au-Prince. The conditions there appeared to be 

 exactly the same as in the large cave at St. Francisque, but no bones 

 were found other than a few remains of domestic goat and pig in 

 the most superficial layers, and recent bats and introduced rodents 

 in fresh owl pellets. Why this cave should have been barren of the 

 extinct fauna which occurs so abundantly in those near St. Michel 

 is a question to which I cannot suggest an answer. 



Since this paper was written the St. Michel caves have been again 

 visited in the interests of the National Museum. The generosity of 

 Dr. W. L. Abbott enabled Mr. Arthur J. Poole, Scientific Aid, Divi- 

 sion of Mammals, to spend the period from December 15. 1927. to 

 March 15, 1928. in carrying on excavations which have probably re- 

 sulted in exhausting the bone deposits. Inspection of the very rich 

 material which he brought back to Washington shows that, in general, 

 these new collections confirm the conclusions which I had reached 

 after studv of the specimens that I obtained myself. Such additional 

 facts as they bring to light pertain chiefly to details concerning some 

 of the new forms which I had already described in manuscript. I 

 have therefore concluded to publish this paper as it was originally 

 written, except for the account of the ground sloths, animals for 

 whose understanding my material proves to have l)een so inadequate 

 as to have led to conclusions which I now believe to have been wrong. 



