June sr, 1894] 



NA TURE 



187 



assistants, a cook, and two Afghans in charge of five camels. 

 The absence of all fee<l near the camp rendered it necessary 

 that these latter should have their encampment on the eastern 

 shore, at a distance of about two miles and a half. 



The number of the party thenceforth remained unchanged. 



Without the camel*, which were lent to us by the liberality 

 of the South .\us^ralian Government, it would have been quite 

 impossible to carry on the work. By them meat, which some- 

 times went bad before the day was out, had to be brought a 

 distance of six miles frnm Callabonna Station, as well as water 

 from the same place, until, with the advance of summer, the 

 station supply fell short, when it became necessary to send to a 

 well at a still greater distance, and every stick of firewood had 

 to be fetched several mile*. From the ravages of rabbits, of 

 which there will be more to say directly, it was difficult to keep 

 the camels in sufficiently good condition for their work, and 

 each j jurney for wood and water generally required two days. 



were found lying close together. It may be mentioned that 

 underground bones were usually di-covered by probing with a 

 wire rod, the sense of touch easily detecting the impact even 

 with those that were soft. 



Character of Lake Bed. 



The Lake bed in the fossiliferous area adjacent to the camp 

 compri.es what appears to be one of its most low-lying parts. 

 Its superstratum is a layer of stifiT yellowish clay of variable 

 depth, but usually of not less than about a foot in thickness, not 

 of uniform character, but marked by streaks or veins of a rusty 

 colour, containing much fine, sharp sand, due apparently to sur- 

 face cracks having been filled up with drift-sand. In some 

 places this veining is so irregular and contorted as to give the 

 clay a marbled appearance. On drying, the clay separates 

 readily, along these streaks, into quadiangular or polygonal 

 masses somewhat after the manner of coal. 



Hunieru?. Sc.-ip'ila. 



Fk;. I. — Di:>rotoion skeleton partially excavatel. 



Ht.-. ■. 



When in the course of a fortnight after the rain, the ground 

 had sufficiently dried to permit of the e.\cavations being resumed, 

 operations were commenced by Mr. Zielz at a place about a 

 mile north-west of the camp from which his predecessor, Mr. 

 Hurst, had obtained a number of bones. The subsequent yield, 

 however, was inconsiderable in qnanuty, and such as were found 

 were much broken and decomposed. They represented, how- 

 ever, a variety of species, odd bones of large and small Dipro- 

 lodon«, of the giant Wombat yFhaicotomyi), of Kangaroos, and 

 of Birds being mixed together in great confusion ; or it might 

 be that ife bones apparently of a single Diprotodon, even in 

 previously unopened ground, were widely separated and broken, 

 the fractures being sharp, and the missing pieces not discoverable. 



This locality was consequently abandoned in favour of 

 parts nearer the camp ; from these good results were 

 continuously obtained, and among them one apparently com- 

 plete, and one nearly comi'lele Diprotodon skeleton (Fig. i), 

 which were found in ground that had been liamped over hun- 

 dreds of limes in going to and fro between the camp and the 

 more distant workings. Here also the remains of four birJs 



NO. I2S6, VOL. 50] 



Beneath this superstratum is a layer of unctuous blue clay, of 

 about two feet in thickness resting upon a band of coarse sharp 

 sand, beneath which no bones were ever found by Mr. Ziet.-. 

 Below the sand the same blue clay occurs again for an undeter- 

 mined depth, and shows in parts a laminated structure, with salt 

 water l)ing in the interlaminar spaces. The greatest depth 

 actually reached was between six and seven feet. 



On physical analysis this clay yielded 15-20 per cent, of fine, 

 sharp quartz-sand, while an approximate chemical analysis, 

 kindly made for me by Mr. Turner, Demonstrator of Chemistry 

 in the University, yielded the following results : — 



Total 



