hrdlic^ka] skeletal remains 05' earlv MaK 247 



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A number of shells, about forty in all, were collected from various 

 levels of the Sotelo- barrancas. Some of these lay very near the 

 skeleton discovered by the writer; others were at lower levels, down 

 to about 15 feet from the surface. The shells were of two kinds, 

 with an occasional fragment of a third, and were Seen in many parts 

 of the deposits, so that ten times as large a number could have been 

 collected without much difficulty. Those gathered were submitted 

 for identification to Dr. Wm. H. Dall, who reports as follows: 



"The shells from Sotelo, Argentina, which you left with me are 

 EpiphragmopJiora tucumanensis Doring; Odontostomus dsedalus Des- 

 chayes; and Ampullaria cornucopia Reeve, all recent species of the 

 reerion." 



THE OVEJERO SKELETAL MATERIAL 



Skull No. i.— No. 4850, Museo Nacional (Buenos Aires) collections. 

 The specimen is a portion of an adult, masculine, apparently nonde- 

 formed calvarium, rebuilt out of about 25 pieces and partially restored 

 in mastic. A moderate frontal and parietal depression is the result of 

 imperfect restoration. The parts present comprise portions of the 

 frontal, parietals, and occipital. The right side is less incomplete 

 than the left. 



The bones are brownish-pink in color on both surfaces, with some 

 blackish spots. On fracture they are white, though not chalky, and 

 seem largely devoid of animal matter. They are not unduly heavy. 

 Their thickness is somewhat above the medium for whites, parts of the 

 frontal squama reaching 10 mm., but this would not be extraordinary 

 for Indians. 



In the median line, 2 cm. above what was the center of the supreme 

 occipital line, is a round hole 6 mm. in diameter and about 7 mm. 

 deep, apparently made by a drill. This does not pass through the 

 bone; it seems to be artificial and not recent. 



The cranium was of fair but not large size and apparently meso- 

 cephalic in form. There is no frontal or sagittal crest. The fore- 

 head was not low, though its exact build can not be seen. The 

 parietal eminences are moderate. The ridges on the ventral surface 

 of the occipital are stout. The ventral surface in general is poor in 

 impressions of convolutions. Of sutures, nothing is visible except a 

 part of the coronal, which seems to have been obliterated in a marked 

 degree. 



The foregoing is about all that can be said concerning the specimen, 

 owing to its imperfect condition. No feature that can be clearly dis- 

 cerned is primitive or strildng. 



• The identification of most of these specimens with the particular localities from which they came could 

 not be made witli certainty. 



