MAN IN THE QUATERNARY. 



247 



head of human workmanship. This was obtained by Mr. McGee, from the 

 upper lacustral clays exposed in the walls of Walker River Canon, and was 

 associated in such a manner with the bones of an elephant, oi- mastodon, as 

 to leave no doubt as to their having been buried at approximately the same 

 time. Both are genuine fossils of the upper Lahontan period. The spear- 

 head is of chipped obsidian and is in all respects similar to many other 

 implements of the same nature found, commonly on the surface, through- 

 out the Far West. It was discovered projecting point outwards from a ver- 

 tical scarp of lacustral clays 25 feet below the top of the section, at a local- 

 ity where there were no signs of recent disturbance. This fossil, which is 

 the only evidence at present known of the existence of man on the shores 

 of the Quaternary lakes of the Great Basin, is represented natural size in 

 the following figui'e. 



Fig. 33. — Spcar-liead of obwidiaii from Lahontau sedimeuts. 



The only fossils of a vegetable nature thus far referred to Lake Lahon- 

 tan are certain problematic, stemlike tubes, from one to two inches in 

 length, and approximately the thirtieth of an inch in diameter, which 

 occur in great profusion at the base of the lithoid tufa on Anaho Island. In 

 some places the lower two or three feet of the tufa is very largely com- 

 posed of these remains. Our reference of these fossils to the vegetable 

 kingdom is only provisional, however, as they have been examined by 

 several skilled palaeontologists without having their relations definitely deter- 

 mined. It has been suggested that they are the casts of grass-like stems, 

 but their uniform diameter and the absence of joints seems to preclude 

 this determination. In describing the variations presented by Fompliolyx 

 from Anaho Island, Mr. W. H. Dall has spoken of these fossils as the casts 

 of the leaves or needles of the pine;™ it is possible that this maybe the 

 true explanation of the enigma. 



"Science, Vol. I, 1883, p. 202. 



