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Show 146 DR. E. P. MORENO AND MR. A. S. WOODWARD ON [Feb. 21, that none of the many Indians with whom I have conversed in Patagonia have ever referred to the actual existence of animals to which we can attribute the skin in question, nor even of any which answer to the suppositions of Senor Ameghino according to Seiior 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 Argentino, iu the ' Sierra de las Viscachas/ and in the regions which I believe Seiior Lista visited, there are only a few scarce Chinchillas (Lagidium), 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 Avith 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 Auchenia. It would not be astonishing that the skin of one of these should have been preserved so long, because of the favourable 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 Avhich it was found, the atmosphere of Avhich 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 mention that in 1877, under similar conditions, and in a much smaller cave, scarcely five metres from the Avaters 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 Avrapped up in a covering made of the skin of a Ehea, and holding in its arms a large feather of the Condor, also painted red ; this was all covered up Avith 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. Now, this m u m m y , 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 Eio Negro-a most interesting fact, since they belong to types Avhich have completely disappeared from the Patagonian regions, and it is well knowu that the actual Tehuelcbes 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 Avhom they have no recollection. In another cave, |