hrpliCka] skeletal REMAINS OF EAELY MAN" 155 



in the above statement, presenting all gradations in the conditions 

 of their preservation and ranging from those that were light and fragile 

 to those that were hard, heavy, and completely petrified. 



The thoroughly petrified bones of animals belonged to extinct 

 species (Platyonyx, Scelidotherimn, ChlaTnydotherium, HydrochoRvus 

 sulcidens, Dasypus sulcatus, Antilope maquinensis, etc.) ^ 



As to the human skulls, it seemed to Lund that they indicated two 

 difi'erent races, "some being smaller and relatively w^ell-formed, and 

 others larger, but of a most unfavorable {d'une forme des plus desa- 

 vantageuses) form, with a forehead so sloping that it is lower than 

 even that in many of the apes." 



The second cave^ is a great subterranean labyrinth, the lower 

 chambers of which become inundated in the season of rains. In the 

 lowest part of one of these chambers Lund encountered a large quantity 

 of bones of different animals scattered throughout the earth which 

 filled the space. The bones were in the main those of deer, peccaries, 

 and pacas, doubtless of species that are still living, but with them 

 were teeth and bones of the Platyonyx, CJilamydotherium, Hoplo- 

 phorus, Megatherium, Smilodon, and other extinct forms. The human 

 remains were not found associated with these bones, but far away in 

 another part of the cave and in the immediate vicinity of one of its 

 entrances; these, which belonged to only one individual, were broken, 

 and lay at a slight depth in the ground in a narrow space only a few 

 cubic feet in capacity; but they showed characteristics of fossil bones, 

 being very fragile, even friable, pure white in fracture, and strongly 

 adherent to the tongue. Their position, however, seemed to indicate 

 a more recent origin^ than that of the bones of the fossil animals. 



Lund closes his communication with the statement "that he has 

 said enough to show that the discoveries are not sufficient to decide 

 the question of contemporaneity of man with the extinct animal 

 forms, the remains of which are found in the youngest terranes of 

 Brazil." ^ 



In 1842 and again in 1844, Lund wrote other letters on his discov- 

 eries, to the secretary of the Instituto Historico Brasileiro.* , , a^^ 



■ . /^,. ^^ '^ > 



1 Liitken remarks that this cave was, without doubt, the Lapa Vermelha. " Ai''"<^ ", . , ■ 



2 Liitken remarks, however, that of the above the antelope was shown to be the Cervus simplicicornis, a 

 species still living, and that the Hydrocharux "sulcidens" can not be separated as a variety from the H. 

 capybara, although it might well be considered one of the ancient forms in which this species presented itself. 



3 "At han mener at have anf0rt nok til at vise, at de ikke ere tilstraekkelige til at tjene som afgj0rende 

 Dokumentcr i Sp0rgsmaalet, hvor\idt Mennesket var samtidigt eller ej med de undergaaede Dyreformer, 

 hvis Levninger ere ophevarede i Brasiliens yngste Jordlag." 



< Carta escripta da Lagoa Santa (Minas Geraes), ao Sr. 1°. Secretario do Instituto, pelo socio honorario, 

 Sr. Dr. Lund, in Revista trimensal de Historia e Geographia, iv, 1842, Rio de Janeiro, 1843, pp. 80-87; and 

 Carta do Dr. Lund, escripta da Lagoa Santa (Minas Geraes)a21 de abril de 1844; ibid., vi, 1844, pp. 334-342. 



These letters are also given in translation by Lacerda, in the Memoires de la Societe d'A nthropologie de Paris, 

 2me s6r., n, Paris, 1875, pp. 522-535; and the earlier one is referred to in the following: Kollner Zeitung, 

 Sept. 9, 1842; Avier. Jour. Sci., XLiv, New Haven, 1843, p. 277; Edinburgh New Philos. Jour., xxxvi, 

 1844, pp. 38-41; L'Insiitut, x, 1842, p. 356; Neues Jahrb.fiir Min., Stuttgart, 1843, p. 118; Proc. Acad. Nat. 

 Sci. Phila., n, 1844-5, Phila., 1846, pp. 11-13. 



All quotations here are translations froni the originals in Portuguese. 



