198 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



that out of these combined efforts we ai-e really making progress in assembling 

 the evidence. 



It now seems in'etty definitely established that the fossils of the deposits are 

 those which we commonly assign to the Pleistocene period. I speak now of 

 the fossils as snch. omitting for the moment consideration of how or by what 

 means they may have reached their present location. If it is true that the 

 fossils are those of the Pleistocene, we then have to consider whether, on the 

 one hand, the fossils are secondary and have been fossilized elsewhere and 

 washed to their present location, or whether the human remains and artifacts 

 are themselves not normal to the deposit, but have been introduced by recent 

 burial or otherwise. That the fossils of strata 2 and 3 are secondary can 

 not be maintained. Of mammals, we have taken from these deposits a practi- 

 cally complete and very fragile skull of a tapir, an equally fragile and approxi- 

 mately complete skull of an extinct wolf, as well as about thirty bones prob- 

 abl,y of the same individual : a considerable part of the skull of a mastodon ; 

 a considerable part of the skeleton of the extinct armadillo, Chlamytherium, 

 as well as a large number of other mammalian bones, too perfect and too 

 delicate to represent secondary fossils. Of birds, there have been obtained a 

 number of wing bones of an extinct stork, as well as bones representing six 

 or seven other species. Of turtles, which are numerous and varied, there have 

 been obtained complete carapaces w^hich are much too delicate to have been 

 moved about after being fossilized. Lastl3^ the fossil leaves, of course, can not 

 be secondary, and the testimony of these as presented by Mr. Berry is con- 

 sistent with that of the other fossils, indicating the Pleistocene age of the 

 deposits. 



It is equally certain that the human remains and artifacts can not re])resent 

 recent burials. The bones known to belong to a single individual are scattered 

 in a way that excludes their interpretation as a burial. The second bone from 

 skeleton number 2, found in place, was the proximal part of the shaft of the 

 left femur. This was taken in April, 1916. In the following June, after hav- 

 ing excavated farther into the bank, a part of the distal part of the shaft of 

 this bone was obtained, the distance separating the two pieces being 8 feet. 

 The break is clean and the fit perfect. Tlie bone consisting of these two 

 pieces is illustrated in the Eighth Annual Report of the Florida Geological 

 Surve.v (plate 19, figure 3). The left ulna and left radius, both incomplete, 

 are separated by a distance of 5 feet. The skull, of which scarcely half was 

 obtained, was secured in the form of fragments extending over an area of not 

 less than G by 3 feet. The distrilnition of the artifacts throughout the de- 

 posits is inconsistent with the idea that they represent burials. The pieces of 

 pottery, as well as the bone implements, have been obtained one by one as the 

 excavating progressed. Their distribution is general throughout the deposit, 

 although they are more abundant near the base than elsewhere. 



I am interested also in Mr. Berry's observation that there is probably no 

 large time interval between strata numbers 2 and 3, since it agrees wdth a 

 suggestion made by me in the paper last published relating to these deposits 

 (Journal of Geology, volume 25, page 21, January-February, 1917). Personally 

 I feel very much gratified at Mr. Berry's contribution to the discussion. 



