HRDLiLKAl DISCOVERIES ATTRIBUTED TO EARLY MAN 19 



the well-kiiowu Itaiiclio La Biva fauna is found through the absence of the 

 great wolf, saber tooth, sloth, small antelope, camel, and many other mammals 

 and birds abundantbv' represented iu the typical Rancho La Brea deposits. 



The only extinct form certainly recognized in the material from the two 

 chinmeys is Teratomis, a gigantic condorlike bird, as yet known only from 

 Itancho La Brea, and recognized by Dr. L. H. Miller in this collection. Bones 

 of this bird were found in a narrow portion of the north chimney at a depth 

 of about 4 feet, and considerably above some of the human remains. As nearly 

 as one can judge from the evidence at hand, there seems a reasonable chance 

 that the giant Tcratorni.H was a contemporary of the human being whose re- 

 mains appear in the north chimney of pit 10. The evidence does not present 

 clear proof in favor of this view, but ajtpears to balance in that direction. 



The extinct California peacock and two other extinct species are doubtfully 

 reported from the north chimney, but there is doubt as to their having been 

 introduced in the same manner as the other bones making up the fauna. 



A small collection found near the upper end of the north chimney contains 

 a number of birds, which, according to Dr. Miller, are quite different from 

 those certainly known from the two chimneys. The matrix in which this small 

 collection was found is also different from that iu the chimneys. It seems 

 l)r(ibal)!e that tlie.se specimens really represent an older fauna embedded in a 

 relatively ancient deposit through or near which the north chimney passed. 



A portion of the lower jaw of a young horse found at a depth of about 5 feet 

 and near the Teratomis in the north chinuiey is more slender than any lower 

 jaw of the common extinct horse found in the typical Rancho La Brea fauna. 

 The writer has not. however, compared it with fossil specimens of exactly the 

 same individual stage of development. In slenderness it approaches more 

 closely the jaw^ of the existing domestic liorse. The space between the back 

 teeth and front teeth seems shorter than that iu the doinestic horse, and is of 

 nearly the same length as in the extinct species from Rancho La Brea. A more 

 careful study of inunature specimens from Rancho La Brea in comparison 

 with very young modern horses will be necessary before one can speak authori- 

 tatively with reference t" the specific determination of this specimen. It will 

 be very interesting to know whether this is an extinct species which lived iu 

 California until a comparatively recent time and was contemporaneous with 

 man, but became extinct befox'e tliis country was visited by white men. The 

 alternative hypothesis is that it represents the colt of a modern horse which 

 foil into the pit within the last century and a half. 



The fact that the fauna from the two chimneys is nearly or quite identical 

 with that of the present day, while the typical Rancho La Brea fauna differs 

 greatly and shows close resemblance to the life of the e;irth at a remote time, 

 makes it evident that the fauna represented in the chimneys of pit 10 pertains 

 to a period much later than that in which the typical Rancho La Brea animals 

 lived. The collection from the chimneys represents a time so close to the 

 present that the types of life were nearly the same as those in the region at 

 the present day. The giant Teratoniis, and possibly several other extinct forms 

 in this fauna, may indicate that the asphalt in these chimneys was trapping 

 animals at a time removed by some thousands of years from the present. On 

 the other hand, it may be that these species were living here within historic 

 time. A third possibility is that the bones of such extinct species as are found 

 here have been removed in some way from an older deposit and found a resting 

 place in the chimneys in comparatively recent time. Still more remote is a 

 fourth possibility that in Pleistocene time these chimneys connected with an 

 open pool far above the pi-esent surface of the ground ; that bones of a few 



