322 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 52 



In a table on page 124 Professor Ameghino gives the stratigraphic 

 position of the Diprothomo and also of other ancient remains relating 

 to early man or his predecessors in Argentina. It is as follows: 



As to the name adopted for the new being, Professor Ameghino 

 says (pp. 126-127): "The piece of skull found in the port of Buenos 

 Aires is of a different genus from Homo, but one which by all its 

 characteristics should, equally w^th the TetraprotJiomo , be considered 

 a real precursor of man, though nearer to man than the fourth fore- 

 runner. ... I adopt for this new genus the name of Diprothomo, 

 which I created in 1884^ for the designation of the second precursor 

 of man, the characteristics of which I have equally [with those of 

 the TetraprotJiomo] constructed by calculation. The species I qualify 

 as platensis, to recall the provenience of the specimen from below the 

 bed of the great stream, the Rio de la Plata." 



The line of evolution leading to man, and the position therein of 

 the Diprothomo, Tetraprothomo, and the various other remains of 

 South America attributed to early man, are, according to Professor 

 Ameghino — it may be repeated — as follows : 



1 Filogenia, 1884, p. 380. 



