fragment of a molar of apparently _Megalonyx jeffersonii_, from a
collection made long ago by William McAdams, at Alton, Illinois. It has
on it McAdams’s number 21. This collection, which was long in the hands
of Professor O. C. Marsh, as vertebrate palæontologist of the U. S.
Geological Survey, is said to have been made in the loess at Alton. Most
of the teeth, with occasional bones, are inclosed in nodules of
extremely fine sand and carbonate of calcium so hard that the teeth can
not be removed without injury. They have been, however, partly exposed
by weathering. The nodules which contained the fossils were found
between the loess and the underlying Illinoian drift.
The fragment of a megalonyx tooth has the diameters respectively 16 mm.
and 24 mm. It is thinner fore-and-aft than other specimens, but this may
be an individual variation.
It is believed that this loess belongs to the Sangamon interglacial
stage. The geology of the locality and the species found there are
discussed on page 339. Also, the fossils were described by the writer in
1920 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. LVIII, pp. 109–117). The presence of
this sloth-like beast appears to indicate that the climate was at that
time mild.
3. _Galena, Jo Daviess County._—In 1870 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,
1870, p. 13), Dr. Leidy brought to the notice of the Academy the fossil
remains of two species of much interest. These had been presented to the
Academy by Henry Green, of Elizabeth, Jo Daviess County, and were
reported as having been found in a narrow crevice of the lead-bearing
rocks in the vicinity of Galena, at a depth of 130 feet. One fossil was
a metacarpal bone of _Megalonyx jeffersonii_, the other was identified
as a last lower molar of _Bison antiquus_. Leidy mentioned three other
species, _Platygonus compressus_, _Procyon priscus_, and _Anomodon
snyderi_ as having been found about Galena in similar situations. The
geological age of the Vertebrata found in the lead crevices about Galena
has not been well determined, but the present writer has regarded them
as being probably of late Wisconsin time. The _Bison_ tooth may have
been that of the yet existing species. However, the possibility is that
these fossils are pre-Wisconsin.
VIRGINIA.
(Map 3.)
1. _Saltville, Smyth County._—Mr. O. A. Peterson, in 1917 (Ann. Carnegie
Mus., vol. XI, p. 472, figs. 4, 5), reported the discovery of the
symphyseal portion of the lower jaw of _Megalonyx_ at Saltville. It was
referred with some doubt to _M. dissimilis_ Leidy. Further mention of
the specimen will be made on page 352.
2. _Ivanhoe, Wythe County._—On a page devoted to the consideration of a
considerable number of species found by Cope near Ivanhoe, in Wythe
County, mention will be made of _Megalonyx jeffersonii_. Only fragments
of teeth were secured by Cope.
WEST VIRGINIA.
(Map 3.)
1. _Green Brier County._—In a cave situated somewhere in this county
were found the bones described in 1799 by President Thomas Jefferson
(Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. IV, pp. 246–260) under the name
_Megalonyx_. Colonel John Stewart became interested and saved some of
the bones from being carried away by curious inhabitants of the region.
The bones, a distal end of a femur, a complete radius, a complete ulna,
three claws, and some other foot-bones were secured and presented to the
American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, from which they passed
into the possession of the Academy of Natural Sciences, where they are
still preserved. Some of these were described by Dr. Caspar Wistar
(Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. IV, 1899, p. 526, plates I, II).
Inasmuch as this species may have existed during a large part of the
Pleistocene and certainly after the passing of the Wisconsin epoch, and
inasmuch as no other species were found associated with the megalonyx
bones, it is impossible to say to what part of the Pleistocene that
particular animal is to be assigned.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
(Map 3.)
1. _Beaufort, Beaufort County._—In the Charleston Museum the writer has
seen a left lower canine tooth of _Megalonyx jeffersonii_. The
fore-and-aft diameter is 34 mm., the transverse 18 mm. It is recorded as
found in dredging in Coosaw River. Tuomey (Rep. Geol. South Carolina,
1848, p. 203) found fragments of bones, probably belonging to
_Megatherium_, on Eddings Island, about 10 miles south of Beaufort.
2. _Charleston, Charleston County._—In 1855, Doctor Leidy (Smithson.
Contrib. Knowl., vol. VII, p. 55) stated that Professor F. S. Holmes, of
Charleston, had loaned him fragments of two very small teeth of
_Megatherium_ found on the shores of Ashley River. These were figured by
Leidy in 1860 (Holmes, Post-Pl. Foss. South Carolina, p. 111, plate XX,
figs. 8, 8_a_). In a collection belonging to Rev. Robert Wilson, in
Charleston, the writer has seen a tooth of _Megatherium_ found by the
Charleston Mining Company in Ashley River. G. E. Manigault (Proc.
Elliott Soc. Nat. Hist., 1886, p. 91) reported the finding of a claw
phalanx of _Megalonyx_ at Cainhoy, 12 miles from Charleston, on Wando
River.
In the Charleston Museum is a part of the right side of the upper jaw of
_Megatherium_, with the second and third teeth and parts of the sockets
of the first and fourth. It is recorded as having been found in the
Bolton phosphate mine on or in Stono River. There is in the same museum
a fragment of the left side of the lower jaw of the same animal. This
jaw contains the second and third molars and parts of the socket of the
first and fourth. It is recorded as having been found in the Kiawah
phosphate mine, Cooper River.
The Charleston Museum contains considerable parts of the skeleton of a
megatherium of which no record has been preserved. In Holmes’s
“Post-Pleiocene Fossils of South Carolina,” page 111, plate XX, figures
7 to 7_b_, Leidy mentioned briefly and figured two small fragments of
lower teeth of _Mylodon harlani_, which had been obtained from the
Pleistocene beds of Ashley River. The tooth figured was originally
described as _Eubradys antiquus_. Figures of it are found also in the
seventh volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, plate XVI,
figures 21_a_ to 21_c_.
The Pleistocene geology of South Carolina is discussed on pp. 361 to
368.
GEORGIA.
(Map 3.)
1. _Brunswick, Glynn County._—In 1842 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,
vol. I, p. 189), Richard Harlan gave to the Academy of Natural Sciences
a number of bones which had been collected in the Brunswick Canal by Mr.
J. H. Couper and sent to the Academy. Among these was a number of bones
of _Megatherium_. A part of a lower jaw contained 4 teeth. A list of the
bones is presented by Couper on page 44 of William B. Hodgson’s memoir
on _Megatherium_ published in 1846. There were, besides the part of a
mandible, parts of 2 maxillæ without teeth, parts of 6 or 7 femora, a
part of an ilium, several dorsal vertebræ, and several teeth. Lyell
(Second Visit, ed. 2, 1850, vol. I, p. 347) stated that a part of a
skeleton of a _Megatherium_, dug out in cutting the canal, was so near
the surface that it was penetrated by the roots of a pine tree. Most of
this material was sent to the Academy of Natural Sciences at
Philadelphia (Leidy, Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. VII, art. 5, p.
54).
The accompanying fossils will be named on page 370.
2. _Skidaway Island, near Savannah, Chatham County._—The earliest
announcement of the discovery of _Megatherium_ in North America was made
by Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill in 1824 (Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y., vol. I,
pp. 58–61, plate VI). The announcement was based on a number of teeth
which had been sent to him from Skidaway Island. In the same volume, on
pages 114 to 124, plate VIII, William Cooper described teeth and bones
which had been sent to him from the same locality by Joseph E.
Habersham. Cooper had some reason to conclude that all the bones and
teeth found up to that time had come from the same individual. In 1828
(Annals cited, vol. II, pp. 267–270) Cooper described additional
materials which he had received from Skidaway Island.
In 1846 (Hodgson’s Mem. Megath., p. 25), Habersham gave a list of the
fossil bones and teeth found at the island mentioned. Lyell (op. cit.,
p. 313) gave a brief account of a visit to Skidaway Island and stated
that _Megatherium_, _Mylodon_, _Mastodon_, _Elephas primigenius_, and a
species of the ox tribe had been found there. In 1855 (Smithson.
Contrib. Knowl., vol. VII, art. 5, p. 50) Leidy enumerated the specimens
of _Megatherium_ which had been found at Skidaway Island, and he gave an
excellent figure (plate xv) of a ramus of the lower jaw containing all
its teeth, which had been sent to the National Institute at Washington.
These bones ought to be now in the National Museum, but the writer has
not been able to find them. They may never have been transferred and may
be lost. On the other hand, Leidy did not mention other specimens from
Skidaway Island, given by Scriven, and now in the National Museum. One
of these is the hinder part of a skull figured in Hodgson’s memoir.
Also, the same plate contains what is almost certainly the astragalus;
its greatest diameter is 9 inches. Furthermore, there is present the
distal end of a right humerus presented by Doctor Scriven. It is
probably one of the two mentioned on page 27 of Hodgson’s memoir. As in
the one there measured, the distance across the condyles is 14 inches
and that across the articular surfaces is 7.75 inches. The Scriven
collection also contains several teeth and fragments of others. A piece
of the maxilla bears the small hindermost upper molar, no doubt the
fragment mentioned by Habersham in his memorandum, page 26. Many of the
bones sent from the island show by the presence of barnacles and bryozoa
that at one time they lay in salt water; but this was probably not long
before they were discovered.
Lyell stated that among other animals which had been found at Skidaway
Island was _Mylodon_. _Mylodon_ was reported by Lyell (“Travels in North
America,” vol. I, p. 164) as having been found at Heyner’s Bridge. This
is or was situated about 7 miles south of Savannah and about 5 miles
northwest from the locality on Skidaway Island where the _Megatherium_
and _Mylodon_ remains were found. The map accompanying Hodgson’s memoir
is here reproduced as map 40.
FLORIDA.
(Maps 3, 4.)
1. _Archer, Alachua County._—Leidy mentioned (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Phila., 1886, pp. 11, 12) the fact that an astragalus of _Megatherium_
had been found at Archer. Several other species of vertebrates have been
found there, among them _Teleoceras fossiger_, _Gomphotherium
floridanum_, _Hipparion plicatile_, three species of _Procamelus_, and a
species of _Tapirus_. The deposits are assigned to the Pliocene, but it
is doubtful whether the megatherium and the tapir belonged among the
others. The geology of the locality is discussed on page 375. The
megatherium, as an undetermined species, is included in the list of
fossils which is recorded by Leidy in Bulletin 84 of the United States
Geological Survey, page 129. It may be referred provisionally to Leidy’s
_Megatherium mirabile_.
2. _Almero Farm, St. John County._—In the collection of Mr. Fred Allen,
at St. Augustine, the writer has seen a right tibia of a mylodon found
in the Inland Waterway Canal about 28 miles south of St. Augustine. The
bone is complete, except that a sliver has been split off the upper half
of the outer border. The total length of the bone is 290 mm.; the
greatest width of the upper end 208 mm.; width at middle of length 105
mm.; width of surface for astragalus 130 mm. This appears to be a
relatively stouter bone than the larger one described by Harlan (Amer.
Jour. Sci., vol. XLIV, 1842, p. 77). It is also larger and relatively
stouter than a tibia found at Labelle, Lee County, described on page 40.
It is referred to _Mylodon harlani_.
11. _Williston, Levy County._—In the U. S. National Museum there are
some foot-bones of a large ground-sloth, which are labeled as having
been collected in 1887 by the U. S. Geological Survey, in the county
named. The collector was probably J. B. Hatcher. The astragalus had
evidently been studied by Leidy. This bone was described by the writer
in 1919 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. LVI, p. 104, plate XXVII) as
_Thinobadistes segnis_. Later, other parts of the foot were found in the
museum and described (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. LIX, p. 638, plate
CXIX, figs. 6–11).
3. _Ocala, Marion County._—In 1888, in a fissure in a limestone quarry,
probably Phillip’s quarry, near Ocala, Mr. Joseph Willcox discovered
some vertebrate remains which were later described by Leidy (Trans.
Wagner Free Inst., vol. II, pp. 13–17, plate III, figs. 1, 5, 6 to 9).
The species as determined by Leidy were _Elephas columbi_, _Equus
fraternus_, _Auchenia minima_, and _Machairodus floridanus_. They were
regarded as belonging to the Quaternary, but in Dall’s paper of 1892
(Bull. 84, U. S. Geol. Surv., p. 129) they are referred to the age of
the Alachua clays; that is, to the Pliocene. Sellards, in 1916 (8th Ann.
Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 103), regards the fossils as belonging to
the Pleistocene, and he adds representatives of 4 genera to the list.
These are undetermined species of _Bison_, _Odocoileus_, _Dasypus_, and
_Sylvilagus_. The genus _Dasypus_ is the one to which attention is
especially called at this time. A list of the vertebrate animals found
at this place is presented on page 378.
4. _Dunnellon, Marion County._—In Sellards’s report just referred to, he
prints a list of the Pleistocene vertebrates found in Withlacoochee
River. Among these is the xenarthrid animal _Chlamytherium
septentrionale_. What parts were secured and exactly at what place the
writer does not know.
In the collection of the Florida Geological Survey is a foot-bone, No.
1307, which appears to be the second right metacarpal of _Megalonyx_. It
is smaller than the one figured by Leidy. The extreme length is 60 mm.,
the greatest diameter of the proximal end 27 mm., that of the distal end
36 mm. It was found in the mine of the Dunnellon Phosphate Company. For
a list of the associated species the reader is referred to page 376.
5. _Hillsboro River, Hillsboro County._—In 1915 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol.
XL, p. 139), Sellards stated that the Jarman collection at Vanderbilt
University, at Nashville, contains several dermal plates of
_Chlamytherium septentrionale_, found in Hillsboro River.
6. _Sarasota Bay, Sarasota County._—In 1915, Sellards (op. cit., p. 143)
reported that the collection of Wagner Free Institute at Philadelphia
contains one dermal plate of _Chlamytherium septentrionale_ found by
Joseph Willcox at White Beach, on Sarasota Bay.
The American Museum of Natural History, New York, possesses a dermal
plate of a xenarthrid, collected by Barnum Brown 8 miles southeast of
Sarasota. This probably belonged to the animal mentioned above.
7. _Zolfo, Hardee County._—Dr. W. D. Matthew has informed the writer
that there are in the American Museum of Natural History some bones of a
very large individual of _Megatherium_, reported as having been found
near Zolfo. An astragalus, the proximal part of a humerus, the distal
part of a radius, and the proximal part of a femur were mentioned. These
bones may be referred provisionally to _Megatherium mirabile_ Leidy.
8. _Vero, St. Lucie County._—At this place there have been found remains
representing 4 genera of xenarthrids, as follows: _Megalonyx_,
_Mylodon_, _Chlamytherium_, and _Dasypus_.
_Megalonyx jeffersonii_ is represented by a part of a lower jaw, a right
upper canine tooth, a molar tooth, a part of a hyoid bone, an axis, an
astragalus, a median phalanx, and a claw (Sellards, 8th Ann. Rep.
Florida Geol. Surv., p. 148, plate XXV, fig. 2; plate XXX, fig. 6).
These were all found in the stratum denominated No. 2 in the report just
cited.
_Mylodon harlani?_ is known from a single claw, but from which stratum
it was derived is not known.
_Chlamytherium_ is represented by a part of the right side of the lower
jaw, a part of the left side, a foot-bone, and numerous dermal plates
(Sellards, op. cit., p. 148, plate XXVIII, figs. 4 to 6; plate XXX, fig.
7). Most of these remains have been taken from stratum No. 2, but some
finely preserved dermal plates have been collected from No. 3.
_Dasypus_ remains, consisting of dermal scutes, have been found in both
No. 2 and No. 3.
In the collection of the Florida Geological Survey (No. 1795) is a bone,
apparently the right parietal of an undetermined xenarthrid. It was
found in the canal of the Indian River Farms Company, east of the
railway and near Indian River. The length of the bone at the midline is
70 mm. and here the thickness is 22 mm. There appears to have been no
median crest and only a feebly indicated occipital crest. There is no
rough surface for the temporal muscles, as in _Nothrotherium_, and the
bone is thicker than in that genus.
For complete lists of the fossil vertebrates found at Vero, see page
382.
9. _Arcadia, De Soto County._—The _Xenarthra_ are represented in the
Pleistocene deposits about Arcadia by the genera _Megalonyx_,
_Glyptodon_, and _Chlamytherium_. If these were not found at Arcadia
they were collected along Peace Creek, not far from the town. A list of
the species found in the vicinity of Arcadia is given on page 380.
Leidy (Trans. Wagner Free Inst., vol. II, p. 27) stated that a first
phalanx of _Megalonyx jeffersonii_ was among the fossils collected along
Peace Creek. It was probably found on the sand-bar at Arcadia. Among the
fossil vertebrates described by Leidy, the paper just cited included
some dermal plates which he referred to the genus _Glyptodon_. Two of
these plates were figured (op. cit., plate IV, fig. 9; plate VI, fig. 1)
as those of _G. petaliferus_, a species based on half of a dermal scute
described by Cope from southwestern Texas. The dermal scute shown on
Leidy’s plate IV appears to be indistinguishable from similar plates
which have been referred by the present writer to Cope’s _G.
petaliferus_ (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. LI, 1916, p. 107, plates III
to V). The scute represented by Leidy on his plate VI appears to be far
less extensively pitted than any of those of the specimen just referred
to. On Leidy’s plate V are two views of a scute which he thought might
have belonged on the tail of a glyptodon. It will be observed that this
scute has a beak distinctly set off from the body of the scute. Among
the few caudal scutes of the specimen which the writer described none
presents such a beak, but such may have existed. It seems probable,
however, that there was a single species of _Glyptodon_ found on Peace
Creek and that it was different from _G. petaliferus_. Leidy thought
that these caudal scutes resembled those on the tail of the South
American _G. asper_; but Burmeister’s figures do not indicate exactly
such keeled scutes. It is most probable that the Florida species
requires a new name. It is to be called _Glyptodon rivipacis_ Hay.
Leidy referred another dermal scute to some glyptodont animal (op. cit.,
plate VI, figs. 2, 3), but its nature is doubtful; it may even belong to
one of the large species of _Testudo_. A conical bone (plate III, figs.
10, 11) belonged pretty certainly to _Testudo_.
In the paper cited Leidy described and figured (p. 24, plate III, figs.
3 to 6) plates of an armadillo-like animal to which he gave the name
_Glyptodon septentrionalis_. It is now known as _Chlamytherium
septentrionale_. Leidy had over 30 of these dermal scutes which had been
found at Arcadia. They are now in the Wagner Free Institute at
Philadelphia.
Sellards (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XL, 1915, p. 143) states that there are
3 dermal plates of this animal in the U. S. National Museum. In 1915
(Florida Geol. Surv., vol. VII, pp. 77, 78, plate on p. 114) he
described a lower jaw, a tooth, and 2 dermal plates of the same animal.
10. _Labelle, Lee County._—In the Florida Geological Survey is a right
tibia of a mylodon, found on the bank of Caloosahatchee River, near
Labelle, presented by Capt. F. H. Hendry. The total length is 266 mm.;
on the inner border 236 mm. The width across the articulatory surface
for the femur is 164 mm. The width at the middle of the length is 84
mm.; fore-and-aft diameter at the same place 38 mm. The side-to-side
diameter of the surface for the astragalus is 57 mm. The bone is
referred to _Mylodon harlani_.
11. See page 37.
ALABAMA.
(Map 3.)
1. _Tuscumbia, Colbert County._—In his work on the “Extinct Sloth Tribe”
in North America (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. VII, art. V, p. 6,
plate XVI, fig. 13), Leidy, in recording the materials belonging to
_Megalonyx jeffersonii_ at his disposal, mentioned a supposed third
upper molar, said to have come “from Tuscumbia County, Alabama.” This
was an error, as the name of the town is Tuscumbia. The tooth had been
loaned to him by Dr. Jeffries Wyman. Nothing more is known about its
history. Mercer (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. XXXVI, p. 38) stated
that a well-preserved series of bones of _Megalonyx_ had been sent to
the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia by Mr. Tuomey. They had
been obtained in a cave somewhere in northern Alabama. Leidy does not
mention this collection in his work just cited.
MISSISSIPPI.
(Map 3.)
1. _Natchez, Adams County._—Dr. M. W. Dickeson (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Phila., 1846, p. 106) exhibited before the Academy a large series of
fossil bones secured by him near Natchez. Among these were noted
especially what was described as an entire head with part of the lower
jaw, and many parts of the skeleton of _Megalonyx jeffersonii_. This
skull is still in the collection of the Academy. The lower jaw is
missing. It appears that several skeletons were represented in
Dickeson’s collection. These, as Dickeson stated, had been found in a
tenacious blue clay which underlies what he called diluvial drift, but
now regarded as being at least principally loess. Associated with this
animal were remains of _Ursus_, _Bos_ (_Bison_), _Cervus_
(_Odocoileus_), _Equus_, and some other but undetermined genera.
In his “Second Visit to the United States of North America,” edition 2,
1850, volume II, p. 196, Lyell mentions the _Megalonyx_ among other
fossils found at Natchez. He states that the fossils found by Doctor
Dickeson were obtained in the “Mammoth Ravine” 6 miles from Natchez.
In Southall’s “Recent Origin of Man,” 1875, page 552, is a statement
made by Professor C. G. Forshey (as quoted from Foster’s “Prehistoric
Races of the United States,” p. 61) in which he says that he visited the
locality where the human pelvis was found and that it was situated in
Bernard’s Bayou, 2.5 miles from Natchez.
In his memoir of 1853 on “Extinct Species of American Ox” (Smithson.
Contrib. Knowl., vol. V, art. III, p. 10), Doctor Leidy included
_Mylodon_ among the genera found at Natchez. In his memoir of 1855 on
the “Extinct Sloth Tribe of North America” (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl.,
vol. VII, art. V, p. 48) he gave a list of the bones and brief
descriptions of them. They all belonged to one individual, which was
about half-grown.
In a list furnished to B. C. L. Wailles by Doctor Leidy (Wailles, Agric.
Geol., Mississippi, 1854, p. 286), 4 species of _Xenarthra_ are included
among the mammals found fossil in the Pleistocene of Mississippi. These
are _Megalonyx jeffersonii_, _M. dissimilis_, _Mylodon harlani_, and
_Ereptodon priscus_. Cope regarded _M. dissimilis_ as the same as _M.
jeffersonii_, and Leidy was disposed to consider his _Ereptodon priscus_
as identical with one of the species of _Megalonyx_.
A list of the fossil vertebrates found in the vicinity of Natchez will
be given on page 392.
TENNESSEE.
(Map 3.)