1912] Miller: Pacific Coast Avian Palaeontology 69


sected by river canons. The indications are that the actual
elevation at present is considerably greater than that during the
deposition of the bone-bearing material. Certainly the relation
of the cave to the river level has changed in the neighborhood of
eight hundred feet. There is no evidence of a later subsidence
noted, so we may assume that the conditions during the period
of deposition were more like those at Rancho La Brea than they
are at present, 1e., less abrupt elevation and a smoother top-
ography. The presence of Dendragapus in the cave deposits is
an indication, however, that conditions were not identical in
the two localities.
A very interesting description of the various chambers and
galleries of the cavern is given in Sinelair’s paper. The fossil-
bearing matrix represents the accumulation on the floors of the
chambers and pockets in the form of fans of detritus, admitted
doubtless through old chimney-like chutes now entirely blocked
by limestone accretions and washed debris. These fans of ac-
cumulated material were enerusted, and in some _ instances
cemented, by stalagmitiec deposits so that blasting had to be re-
sorted to in places.
The remains are in most cases entirely dissociated. Sinclair
notes the finding of a few skeletons in their proper anatomical
relations, such as those of a squirrel, a woodrat, a snake, and a
bat. These are all animals which would go into eaves of their
own accord and after death fall upon the floors of the caverns.
No ease of bird skeletons in any degree associated is to be found.
