LHE PLIOCENE SKULL OF CALIFORNIA 635 
giving five cogent reasons for the non-acceptance of the Cala- 
veras skull as evidence of the existence of man in Pliocene times 
he sums up as follows: ‘‘The above reasons are, I think, quite 
sufficient to warrant any geologist in declining to accept the 
human remains of the California gravels as other than those of 
American Indians of modern periods.” 
Quatrefages makes two references to the Calaveras skull. 
In one he writes: ‘‘Much has been said about the skull discov- 
ered by Whitney in California. Unfortunately, the description 
of this specimen has not appeared so that doubts have on sev- 
eral occasions been expressed as to the existence of the fossil 
itself. The recent testimony of M. Pinart has removed them, 
but has at the same time created the most serious doubts as to 
the antiquity of this specimen, which seems to have been found 
in disturbed grounds.”’* 
Again, in discussing the succession of the two great types of 
skulls, he states ‘that at present everything argues in favor of 
the anteriority of the dolichocephali. In America the only 
known fossil skull leads to the same conclusion.” ? 
In the foregoing citation of the conclusions of Dr. Dawson 
it will be noted that he groups together the evidence presented 
by the skull and those from other human remains in the Cali- 
fornia gravels. This tendency is shown, also, by Dana, who, 
after mentioning the doubts of the authenticity of the skull, 
writes: ‘‘ Whitney also mentions the discovery of flint implements 
in the auriferous gravel in other parts of California. The fossil 
plants of the gravels are referred to the Pliocene (or partly 
Miocene) by Lesquereux. The few mammalian remains include 
the Champlain mastodon and elephant, but in some places 
Pliocene species. Some recent land shells were contained in 
the earth filling the cranium.” 
To anyone not familiar with the localities, the modern and 
ancient gravels, and the occurrence of flint implements, the 
*A. DE QUATREFAGES, The Human Species. Int. Sci. Series, D. Appleton & 
Co., 1888, p. 291. 
? Ibid., p. 299. 
