352 A. SMITH WOODWARD [NOVEMBER 
The Director of the La Plata Museum, with the characteristic 
energy which has established the fame of that great seat of learning, 
determined that no time must be lost in solving the problem of 
Neomylodon, so far as careful explorations could accomplish it. Dr. 
Rudolph Hauthal was accordingly deputed last April to undertake 
further diggings in the “Cueva Eberhardt,’ as the now celebrated 
cavern is named, and the results, just published, prove to be of the 
deepest interest." These further discoveries include nearly all the 
important parts of the skeleton of the animal, evidently broken by 
man and clearly associated with relics of man himself. 
It now appears that the remains of the so-called Neomylodon are 
not found at the exposed entrance of the cavern, which is of very large 
proportions (30 metres high), but occur only in an inner chamber 
which has every appearance of having been artificially constructed by 
cross-barriers. At a short distance from the entrance there is a rude 
wall of tumbled blocks extending the whole way across, except a 
narrow gangway left at one side. On passing through this the great 
chamber just mentioned is reached, and another wall-like barrier 50 
metres further inwards extends completely across the cave from side 
to side, preventing any ingress except by scrambling. In the middle 
of the chamber there is an artificial mound. The floor proved to be 
covered with a layer of dust and stones, varying from 30 centimetres 
to a metre in thickness. In it at one spot were found numerous shells 
of mussels mingled with the broken bones of guanaco and deer—evi- 
dently the remains of the food of man. Beneath the surface layer 
near the inner barrier was discovered a great mass of excrement of a 
herbivorous animal, in some places more than a metre in depth. Most 
of the material was in the form of impalpable dust, which almost 
choked the workmen; but a few large lumps were in a good state of 
preservation, and rivalled the droppings of the elephant in size. Part 
of the heap showed clear indications of having been burned. Nearer 
the middle of the chamber was dug up a considerable accumulation of 
dry cut hay in a good state of preservation. In the lower layer—in 
the excrement, the hay, and the surrounding rubbish—were found 
numerous broken bones of the so-called Neomylodon, belonging to 
several individuals, both old and young, with another well-preserved 
piece of skin. There was also evidence of an extinct horse, and a 
large unknown carnivorous animal; while a human skeleton had 
previously (in 1895) been taken out of a niche in the wall of the 
chamber. 
Summarising the results of his work, Dr. Hauthal specially empha- 
sises the following facts :— 
“1. That the deposit of excrement was confined to the space 
' R. Hauthal, S. Roth, and R. Lehmann-Nitsche, “El Mamifero Misterioso de la Pata- 
gonia, ‘ Grypotherium domesticum,’” Revista del Museo de La Plata, vol. ix. p. 409, with 
five plates (Aug. 1899). 
