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University of California Publications in Geology [Vol. 10 



on the surface as springs. This water is still at work leaching certain 

 areas of the limestone as well as closing cavities by the deposition 

 of carbonate of lime and by the formation of stalactitic growths. Its 

 work now, however, can only be regarded as a minor process, con- 

 sidered in the light of what it has accomplished in the past ; and this 

 appears to be principally due to the location of the cave, situated 

 high and dry, as it were, on a spur whose surface supply of water is 

 speedily carried away through the adjacent small gullies. 



PRESERVATION OP VERTEBRATE REMAINS 



The matrix from which many of the bones were obtained, is a 

 cave-breccia. A typical specimen of the deposit consists of a mixture 

 of numerous irregular fragments of limestone, broken pieces of stalac- 

 tite and bone fragments together with a reddish-brown dirt derived 

 from the surface soil. The whole is thoroughly cemented with car- 

 bonate of lime. A number of the bones were secured from the cave- 

 breccia with some difficulty, while others were imbedded in a less 

 indurated matrix and were easily removed. 



The vertebrate material is for the most part fragmentary. There 

 are no complete skulls or skeletons. Occasionally a few parts of a 

 skeleton were directly associated in the same block of breccia and 

 evidently belonged to the same individual. Some of the larger re- 

 mains, such as bones of the ground-sloth, had been subjected to much 

 wear before final entombment, so that recognition of parts is often 

 impossible. All of the larger bones are thoroughly impregnated with 

 carbonate of lime. 



Mixture of apparently Recent mammalian material with Pleisto- 

 cene fossils has in several instances been noted by the writer. These 

 occurrences are, however, few, and so far as observed they seem to 

 be restricted to the smaller forms. The appearance of the material 

 in question offers in each case sufficient ground for suspicion as to 

 its age. 



OCCURRENCE OF HUMAN REMAINS 



The occurrence of remains of man in Hawver Cave was investi- 

 gated by Professor Merriam and by members of the Anthropological, 

 department of the University of California. In a short note Professor 

 Merriam 5 makes the following statement concerning the human finds : 



5 Merriam, J. C, Note on the occurrence of human remains in California caves, 

 Science, n. s., vol. 30, pp. 531-532, 1909. 



