616 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1139 



finds evidence of stream action, materials 

 from the land having been washed in and de- 

 posited in channels in the marine shell marl. 

 On the other hand, there are places in the sec- 

 tion where the sand and shell beds of the ma- 

 rine deposits dove-tail into the succeeding 

 fresh-water deposits in such a way as to indi- 

 cate continuous deposition. It is probable 

 that the fresh-water deposit indicated by num- 

 ber 2 of this section, represents at this locality 

 the closing phase of the marine marl forma- 

 tion, the change to fresh-water conditions 

 having been brought about by a slight shift- 

 ing of the strand-line. 



Between this older formation and the allu- 

 vial bed which follows, number 3 of the sec- 

 tion, there is, on the other hand, an abrupt 

 well-marked persistent break, the top surface 

 of the stratum represented by number 2 being 

 extremely irregular. The alluvial bed, the 

 initial phase of which is represented by pro- 

 nounced stream action, conforms to the ir- 

 regularities of the older formation. In this 

 later bed, number 3 of the section, is found 

 human skeletal remains, bone implements, 

 pottery, arrow-heads and ornaments. 



HUMAN REMAINS 



The first skeletal remains of man found at 

 Vero, an account of which has previously been 

 given, were from the bone-bearing bed repre- 

 sented by number 2 of the section and were 

 taken from the south bank of the canal at the 

 locality indicated by a in the accompanying 

 text-figure. The additional human bones to 

 which the present paper relates were found in 

 place while excavating in the south bank of 

 the canal at the locality indicated by b. At 

 the spot where the human bones were found, 

 owing to stream-wash previous to the deposi- 

 tion of the overlying deposit, the fresh-water 

 stratum, number 2 of the section, is only about 

 18 inches thick. The human bones were 

 found in this sand, about 10 inches above the 

 base. The overlying alluvial beds are strati- 

 fied and as usual conform to the irregularities 

 of the underlying formation. The human 

 bones at this place were found and removed 

 by the writer, in the presence and with the 

 assistance of Isaac M. Weills and Frank 



Ayers. The first bone found was a right as- 

 tragalus; the second bone taken in place was 

 the right external cuneiform, which lay at the 

 same level and about six inches from the 

 astragalus. About twelve inches farther back 

 in the bank was found a piece from the right 

 pubes and a part of the left ilium including 

 that part of the bone which shows the articu- 

 lar surface for the sacrum. In the same 

 stratum and at the same locality Mr. Frank 

 Ayers found in place a thin sharp-edged flint 

 which evidently is a spawl from the manufac- 

 ture of some kind of a flint implement. Upon 

 sifting the sand in which these bones were im- 

 bedded there was obtained two phalanges, a 

 section from a limb bone and some other hu- 

 man bone fragments. In these siftings there 

 was found also a small flint, worked on one 

 side, two small spawls, and a piece of a bone 

 implement. 



Vertebrate fossils in immediate association 

 with the human bones, found in place in this 

 stratum, number 2 of the section, include the 

 following: Odocoileus sp., left scapula; Ele- 

 phas columbi, tooth fragments; Equus sp., 

 part of a tooth; Tapirus haysii?, part of a 

 tooth, and Didelphis virginiana, part of a 

 lower jaw. From the siftings the following 

 additional species have been obtained: Sylvi- 

 lagus sp., teeth and part of lower jaw; Chlamy- 

 therium septentrionalis, dermal plates ; Dasypus 

 sp., dermal plate; Sigmodon sp., teeth; Neofiber 

 alleni, teeth; and Cryptotis floridana, lower 

 jaw; as well as bones representing birds, rep- 

 tiles, batrachians and fishes. Of these fossils 

 the scapula of the deer was found within a 

 few inches of the human astragalus and at the 

 same level, while the other specimens were 

 found near by, none of those listed being more 

 than five feet from the human bones. From 

 the same stratum, ten feet farther west, was 

 obtained, upon passing the sand through a 

 sieve, a small bone implement and a small 

 flint which represents either a spawl or a very 

 small flint tool. The vertebrate fossils 

 found at this place include the following: 

 Odocoileus sp., teeth; Equus sp., foot bone; 

 Dasypus? sp., dermal plate; Didelphis virgini- 

 ana, tooth; Elephas columbi, parts of teeth; 



