146 DE. Y. P. MORElSrO AND MR. A, S. WOODWARD ON [Feb. 21, 



that Done of the many Indians with whom I have conversed in 

 Patagonia have ever referred to the actual existence of animals 

 to which we caa attribute the skin in question, nor even of any 

 which answer to the suppositions of Seiior Ameghino accordiug to 

 Senor Lista. It is but rarely that a few Otters {Lutra) are found 

 in the lakes and rivers of the Andes, as in the neighbourhood of 

 Lake Argentioo, in the ' Sierra de las Viscachas,' and in the regions 

 which I believe Seiior Lista visited, there are only a few scarce 

 Chinchillas (Lagidinm), which have a colouring more dark greyish 

 than those found to the north, and are in every case separated 

 from these by a large extent of country. 



The Pampean Edentata have in former days certainly existed as 

 far south as the extreme limit of Patagonia. In 1874, in rhe bay 

 of Santa Cruz, I met with the remains of a pelvis of one of these 

 animals in Pleistocene deposits, and also remains of the mammals 

 which are found in the same formation, such as the Macrauchenia 

 and Aiichenia. It would not be astonishing that the skin of ooe 

 of these should have been preserved so long, because of the favour- 

 able conditions of the spot in which it was found. 



The state of preservation of this piece of skin, at first sight, makes 

 it difficult for one to believe it to be of great antiquity ; but this is 

 by no means an impossibility, if we consider the conditions of the 

 cave in which it was found, the atmosphere of which is not so damp 

 as one might at first imagine it to be, although it is situated in the 

 woody regions near to the glaciers and lakes. It is well to men- 

 tion that in 1877, under similar conditions, and in a much smaller 

 cave, scarcely five metres from the waters of Lake Argentino, 

 situated 60 miles more to the north, I discovered a mummified 

 human body painted red, with the head still covered in part with 

 its short hair wonderfully preserved, and wrapped up in a covering- 

 made of the skin of a Rhea, and holding in its arms a large feather 

 of the Condor, also painted red ; this was all covered up with a 

 layer of grass and dust fallen from the roof of the cave. in 

 another cave in the neighbourhood I discovered a large trunk of 

 a tree, painted with figures in red, black, and yellow. The sides 

 of the rock close to the entrance of the cave were covered with 

 figures, some representing the human hand, others combinations of 

 curved, straight, and circular lines, painted white, red, yellow, and 

 green, ]^^ow, this mummy, which is preserved in the Museum of 

 La Plata, does not belong to any of the actual tribes of Patagonia. 

 Its skull resembles rather one of those more ancient races found in 

 the cemeteries in the valley of the Kio Negro — a most interesting 

 fact, since they belong to types which have completely disappeared 

 from the Patagonian regions, and it is well known that the actual 

 Tehuelches may be considered to have been the last indigenous 

 races which reached the territory of Patagonia. Many a time the 

 Tehuelches have spoken to me of these caves as abodes of the 

 evil "spirits," and of the enigmatical painted figures they contained : 

 some attributed the latter to these same "spirits," others to men of 

 other races, of whom they have no recollection. In another cave. 



