1064 The American Naturalist. [November, 
The existence of a large Jake area during the diluvial period, which 
I found to have extended nearly over the whole territory of Honduras, 
is not merely based upon the theory of a necessary accumulation of 
water in natural basins, on account of the absence of erosive valleys 
or river systems, but it is founded upon the existence of well-preserved 
shore-marks and shore-lines of these former lakes. 
The lines of the erosive action upon the mountains surrounding our 
present valleys extend in a Aorizonfal direction, dividing the slope of the 
mountains into two zones, one acted upon by water, the other by air and 
vegetation, but destitute of these marks. The lines of demarkation 
tween the sea level and the shores are as well preserved and marked 
as if the lakes were still in existence. 
These lines of erosion are horizontal, and not inclined as those pro- 
duced by river erosion, and are therefore a strong evidence of the 
existence of accumulated water or lakes in those valleys bearing those 
shore-marks. 
Descending from the height of the lake shores to the base of the 
valley, we find in sinking a shaft stratified formations of soil, sand, and 
clay, containing animal remains. At the present time these lakes have 
disappeared, but we have one illustrating example left in the form of 
the lake of Yojoa. This system of former lakes stretched across Hon- 
duras. I may mention, as former lake-beds, the valleys of Tegucigalpa, 
Comayagua, Danli, Portrerius, Santa Barbara, and a great portion of the 
province of Olancho. 
There is an old Indian legend extant among some Indian tribes of 
Central America which tells us of an underground passage connect- 
ing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, in the form of a natural canal, 
used by their ancestors for navigation. Might this tradition not have 
reference to an overground passage through those lakes existing in 
former or ancient times, perhaps even in the early era of man ? The 
topographical arrangement of the present valleys, formerly craters, 
passing into reservoirs of lakes, would form a great deal of probability 
for our supposition, and more so as a similar passage is proposed in 
the Nicaraguan canal project, which would utilize the existence of the 
two large lakes, Managua and Nicaragua, which unite, by aid of the 
river San Juan, with the Atlantic. 
The large amount of water spread in ancient times over Honduras 
must have caused heavy rainfalls, a vigorous growth of vegetation, fre- 
quent earthquakes and new eruptions of volcanic material. 
These results combined contributed to the wear of the banks of 
those lakes, and the enclosed water masses found their way to the sea, 
