HEDLifKA] . SKELETAL EEMAINS OF EARLY MAN 287 



ing no abnormality or disease, but with capacities ranging from 

 1,050 cc. to 920 cc. 



Outside the features just discussed, the skull is, so far as can be 

 seen in its present state of preservation, entirely Indian-like, and 

 there is not even a remote possibility that it is ancient. 



Geologic Notes on the Laguna Malacara (Arroyo del Moro) Region 



By Bailey Wilus 



TJie Malacara jind. — At a point somewhat more than 30 miles 

 north of Necochea, not far from a small lake known as Laguna Mala- 

 cara, two skeletons were exhumed from a playa among the sand 

 dunes. The geologic formations of the vicinity may be described as 

 follows : 



The basal formation is dull-brown loess-loam or waterlaid deposit 

 composed of eolian loess. It is quite compact, contains much sec- 

 ondary limestone or tosca, which occurs in flat layers and in places 

 has been uncovered by wind erosion so that it constitutes the floor 

 of hollows among the sand dunes. In color, texture, firmness, and 

 its tosca the formation is lithologically identical with that seen south 

 of Mar del Plata; in both localities it is styled ''Ensenadean" by 

 Ameghino, who assigns it to a Tertiary age. 



Overl3'ing the Ensenadean is a discontinuous deposit that takes 

 on several forms. One facies may be described as a brown loess 

 containing films of tosca in suncracks. It is grayish on fracture, 

 earthy rather than sandy, and hard to cut with a knife or to 

 dig with a shovel. The fact that it contains specks of black sand 

 serves in the opinion of Doctor Ameghino to identify it as Inter- 

 Ensenadean. Tlie writer interprets it as a playa deposit formed of 

 dust from the Ensenadean which was blown on a moist surface, 

 wetted by absorption, dried and cracked, and in which secondary 

 Hme was deposited from ground water. This process is entirely con- 

 sistent with a Recent origin. 



Another facies of the Inter-Ensenadean is a fine compact brown 

 sand, mingled with loess, which may easily be cut wdth a knife or 

 dug with a shovel. Its surface lies from a few inches above to 3 feet 

 or more below that of the harder facies, and it appears to occur 

 around masses of the other, occupying hollows eroded by the wind. 

 The two are scarcely distinguishable in color, but the softer is easily 

 recognized on digging. At the line of contact one may observe that 

 the films of secondary limestone in the harder of the two do not extend 

 into the softer and in the latter was observed no tosca deposit of any 

 kind. A general examination of the ground showed that the harder 

 facies of the two presents a very irregular surface, having a rehef of 



