292 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Mar. 25, 



where something Uke fossil wood has been met with, and where also 

 large excavations for nitrate of soda have been made for years past, 

 some vestiges of fossil bones have been fomid*. 



Dr. Phillipi, who was lately commissioned by the Chilian govern- 

 ment to explore the Desert of Atacama f, does not mention the ex- 

 istence of fossil bones in that very large tract of country. 



My late journey (1854) extended to south of Arauco in Chili, but 

 no fossil bones of land animals could I find ; nor could I learn that 

 any had been met with . 



When at Santiago de Chile, however, and making inquiries on the 

 subject, my old friend, Mr. George Smith, H.B.M. consul there, 

 presented me with a few fragments of fossil bones, taken by himself 

 from the lake of Taguatagua, situated south of the capital ; and the 

 following is the account he gives me of them : — 



'' The Lake of Taguatagua is situated in the province of Colchagua, 

 about 45 leagues from the capital due south, and at an elevation of 

 2300 feet above the level of the Pacific ocean. This lake is in the 

 centre of the third range of hills which run from north to south in 

 Chile, and is surrounded by very high hills called the BorboUon. 

 The form of the lake is nearly oval, and about three leagues in cir- 

 cumference. The surrounding mountains are all of volcanic forma- 

 tion. The highest peak of the Borbollon is about 7000 feet above 

 the margin of the lake. The body of water is supplied from springs, 

 — it receives no streams from the mountains, and is generally as full 

 in summer as in winter. It is shallow towards the edge, but slopes 

 rapidly towards the centre, where I could find no bottom with 40 fa- 

 thoms line. The sand on the shore is principally composed of very 

 minute grains of iron-pyrites and small crystals. This lake is appa- 

 rently the exhausted crater of a volcano. 



" On the north side the hills decline, and form there, and there 

 only, a low pass, through which, some years ago, it was proposed to 

 cut for the purpose of draining the lake in part. A ditch was com- 

 menced from the margin of the lake towards the mountain, and in 

 the progress of the work, at the depth of about 30 feet below the 

 margin of the lake, were found the fossil bones. The first animal 

 discovered was very perfect, with the exception of the head ; and at 

 a small distance another skeleton was found of smaller dimensions. 

 Both were imbedded in a fine alluvial soil. As the width of the 

 drain where the skeletons were found did not exceed 1 2 feet, we may 

 conjecture that, had the trenches been wider, more remains would 

 have been found. May not herds of these creatures have been de- 

 stroyed whilst feeding on what at that time was an extended plain ? 

 I am inclined to this opinion, from having found fossil branches 

 of trees in the same trench with the animals." 



* In the Pampa dc Tamarugal, province of Tarapaca, 3000 feet above the sea, 

 bones, like those of mules, were found at the depth of 4 or 5 feet ; and at another 

 spot on this plain, bivalve shells, like cockles, are said to have been found in the 

 rough nitrate of soda ; and in digging a well thereabouts, bones of small mam- 

 mals and of birds were met with. 



t Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc. vol. xxv. p. 158. 



