Waynesburg, the writer has received for examination a lower jaw of a
young individual of _Elephas primigenius_ found near the place named.
Professor Edwin Linton sent the information that it was discovered in
the bed of Gray’s Fork of Ten mile Creek, about 0.25 mile west of
Graysville. In the jaw are the second true molars, right and left,
slightly worn. The length of each is 165 mm., the width 62 mm.
4. _Lone Pine, Washington County._—From Professor Edwin Linton, of
Washington and Jefferson College, the writer received a photograph of an
elephant tooth found at Lone Pine. This place is located on Little Ten
mile Creek, 7.25 miles southeast of Washington. Professor Linton writes
that a 100–mm. line crosses ten of the ridge-plates on the side of the
tooth. The photograph shows that there are 20 plates present, of which
12 are worn more or less.
5. _Beaverdam, Erie County._—In 1828 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XIV, p.
31), Mr. Jeremiah Van Rensselaer described a tooth which must have been
that of _Elephas primigenius_. It had been found near Lake Erie, at a
place called Beaverdam, near a small rivulet, and at a height of 600
feet above the lake. He stated that there were 13 layers of enamel in a
line 4.5 inches long. The tooth was sent to the Lyceum of Natural
History, New York, but was probably destroyed in a fire at the old
American Museum of Natural History.
OHIO.
(Maps 11, 36.)
1. _Waverly, Pike County._—In the U. S. National Museum is an upper
molar of an elephant said to have been found in a gravel-pit of the
Norfolk and Western Railroad, at Waverly. It was sent to the Smithsonian
Institution in 1900 by Mr. E. Sehon, who stated that the tooth had been
picked up along the railroad mentioned, about 30 miles south of Kenova,
West Virginia, but that the gravel had been loaded on the cars at
Waverly. The tooth is believed to be the hindermost milk molar. There
are 10 plates in a line 100 mm. long. The Pleistocene geological
conditions at Waverly may to some extent be learned by consulting
Leverett’s paper forming Monograph XLI of the U. S. Geological Survey,
pages 101–104. There is a possibility that this tooth was buried in
gravels older than the last glacial stage.
2. _Zanesville, Muskingum County._—In 1853 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 2,
vol. XV, pp. 146–147) is found a brief account of the discovery of
elephant remains at Zanesville. One tusk and four molars were found. Two
of the latter weighed (probably while wet) 20 pounds each and two others
14 pounds each. They had been found on the line of what was then called
the Ohio Central Railroad and in the eastern part of the city. At about
the same time (Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. IV, p. 377) Warren
exhibited a tooth of an elephant, one of three received by him from
Zanesville (misprinted Lanesville). In the second edition of his
monograph on “Mastodon giganteus” Warren figured one of these teeth (his
plate XXVIII). It was stated that he had four of the teeth, all
belonging to _Elephas primigenius_. These are now in the American Museum
of Natural History, New York. The right upper hindermost molar is a fine
large tooth. The large front root is missing, as are quite certainly
about 3 plates. There are now 28 present. The length along the nearly
straight base is 335 mm. The rear is high and arched. There are 9 plates
in a 100–mm. line and the enamel is little festooned. Foster, in 1857
(Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 10th meeting, p. 156), described the
discovery and exhumation of these remains, publishing a geological
section illustrated by a figure. The elephant bed is 37 feet above the
river and over 20 feet from the surface. In the collection of the State
University at Columbus (No. 5296) is a fine upper hindermost molar of
_Elephas primigenius_ credited to T. W. Lewis and said to have been
found at Zanesville. There are nine or ten plates in a 100–mm. line.
Zanesville is situated in the unglaciated part of the State; but outwash
from both the Illinoian and the Wisconsin glaciers has been deposited
along the river. For a knowledge of the Pleistocene epoch in that
region, Leverett’s work may be consulted (Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv.,
vol. XLI, p. 158, plate II).
3. _Duncan Falls, Muskingum County._—In the U. S. National Museum (No.
308) is a tooth, apparently the first true molar, of _Elephas
primigenius_ labeled as having been found on Salt Creek, in the county
named. Salt Creek is situated in the eastern part of the county, flows
southward, and empties into Muskingum River at Duncan Falls. This tooth
is probably the one mentioned by J. W. Foster in 1857 (Proc. Amer.
Assoc. Adv. Sci., 10th meeting, 1856, p. 158) as having been found near
the mouth of Salt Creek and then owned by Mr. A. C. Ross.
4. _Millport, Columbiana County._—From Professor Edwin Linton, of
Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania, the writer
received a letter stating that there is in that institution a tooth of
an elephant found in section 7 of Franklin Township (17 north, range 3
west), apparently about 2 miles northeast of Millport and on or near the
stream Nancy Run. The locality is outside of the glaciated area.
Probably the animal had lived during the Wisconsin stage, but there is a
chance that it belonged to an earlier time.
5. _Mount Healthy, Hamilton County._—In 1914, the writer received the
photograph of a skull of _Elephas primigenius_ which was found some
years before at Mount Healthy. Professor N. M. Fenneman informed the
writer that it was discovered on the farm of Barney Miller, in the bank
of Whisky Run. Professor C. A. Hunt, of Mount Healthy, has sent the
information that it was found in the bed of Taylor Creek, a branch of
West Fork of Mill Creek, in the northeast quarter of section 28,
township 3, range 1, of the Miami purchase. Taylor Creek is probably
another name for Whisky Run. The skull was met with in deep alluvial
sediment. At the time of Professor Hunt’s writing it was in the
possession of Mr. Jacob Kismer, North Side, Cincinnati. In 1920 it was
purchased for the U. S. National Museum (No. 10261).
The front of the skull is preserved from the vertex to the front of the
premaxilla. A part of one tusk, about 4 inches in diameter, is present.
An upper molar was detached and later lost or otherwise disposed of. The
one present has 10 ridge-plates in a 100–mm. line. Leverett (Monogr.
XLI, p. 283), in speaking of drift deposits in Mill Creek Valley, stated
that the greater part of the drift is Illinoian. Professor Fenneman
(Bull. 19, Geol. Surv. Ohio, p. 158) refers the deposit to the Wisconsin
stage.
15. _Butler County._—In the collection of the Academy of Natural
Sciences at Philadelphia is an elephant tooth which is accredited to W.
S. Vaux and labeled as having been found in Butler County. The tooth has
now a length of 230 mm., but is worn down to the base in front and the
large anterior root is missing. The width is 105 mm. It appears to be a
large hindermost upper molar of _E. primigenius_. Nothing more definite
is known about the locality. The whole country is covered with Wisconsin
drift.
6. _Dayton, Montgomery County._—In the collection of the Society of
Archæology and History at the University of Ohio is a tooth of _Elephas
primigenius_ which, as reported by Professor W. C. Mills, was found near
the middle of the eastern boundary of Montgomery County. This would not
be far from Dayton. The locality is within the area covered by Wisconsin
drift and the animal lived probably not far away from the foot of the
retiring glacier.
7. _Selma, Clark County._—In Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, are two
upper last molars, right and left, said to have been collected at Selma.
There are nine ridge-plates in a line 100 mm. long. Nothing is known
regarding the geological conditions connected with the discovery, except
that the locality is within the Wisconsin area.
8. _Versailles, Darke County._—In the U. S. National Museum is an upper
hindermost molar of _Elephas primigenius_ (No. 4761), recorded as found
in Wayne Township, on the farm of Foster Compton, in the northeast
corner of the township. This would be probably about 4 miles north of
east of Versailles. The country is level and was doubtless originally
swampy. This tooth is apparently the one mentioned by A. C. Lindemuth in
1878 (Geol. Surv. Ohio, vol. III, pt. 1, p. 509). He stated that it had
been picked up in the creek bottom just north of Versailles.
Under this number may be recorded a tooth of _E. primigenius_ found many
years ago by George H. Teaford, about 2 miles southeast of Palestine, in
Darke County, and now in the collection in the public library at
Greenville. It is a lower left hindermost molar. There are 20 plates
present and evidently a few are missing from the front.
9. _Jersey, Licking County._—In the collection of the Ohio State
University, Columbus, are two large teeth of _Elephas primigenius_
labeled as sent from this place and credited to D. D. Condit. The length
along the base of one of the teeth is 286 mm. There are nine plates in a
100–mm. line and the enamel is unusually thin. This locality is on the
western border of the Wisconsin terminal moraine and the animal belongs
therefore to the Late Wisconsin stage.
10. _Chicago, Huron County._—In the collection of the Society of
Archæology and History, at the University of Ohio, the writer has seen a
tooth of _Elephas primigenius_, labeled as having been found at this
place, which is located on or close to the Defiance moraine.
11. _Kamms, Cuyahoga County._—About May 1, 1911, Mr. F. W. Glenn, of
Kamms, sent to the U. S. National Museum a photograph of a tooth which
the present writer identified as belonging to _Elephas primigenius_.
This town is about 4 miles from the shore of Lake Erie.
12. _Cleveland, Cuyahoga County._—In the collection of Adelbert College,
Cleveland, is a lower jaw of _Elephas primigenius_ which was obtained
here. Professor H. P. Cushing has furnished the writer photographs of
this jaw, which belonged to a young animal, inasmuch as the hindermost
milk molar had not wholly appeared above the bone. Of this tooth, six
ridge-plates were crossed by a line 50 mm. in length.
This jaw was found in 1909, in making a sewer, in hitherto undisturbed
materials, 22 feet from the surface. In the section at that point is
found 22 feet of sand resting on till, the latter being the upper part
of the glacial filling of the preglacial Cuyahoga Valley, 300 feet down
to the rock. The jaw was at the base of the sands. Professor Cushing
regarded the jaw as older than old Lake Warren and presumably as
belonging to the time of Lake Whittlesey.
13. _New Berlin, Stark County._—At Heidelberg University, Tiffin, Ohio,
the writer has seen a well-preserved specimen of an upper second true
molar of _Elephas primigenius_ found near New Berlin. There were counted
16 ridge-plates, of which 11 are in a 100–mm. line.
From Rev. J. P. Stahl, Alliance, Ohio, the writer has learned that this
tooth was found about a mile south of New Berlin, in a small gravel hill
along the Canton and New Berlin highway. The gravel was being removed to
make a road-bed. New Berlin is on the Grand River moraine and the
elephant belongs therefore to the Late Wisconsin stage.
14. _Amboy, Ashtabula County._—In the Buffalo, New York, Natural History
Society, the writer examined a tooth of _Elephas primigenius_,
discovered at this place. It is the front half of the right upper
hindermost molar. There are nine ridge-plates in a 100–mm. line. At the
same place, and probably under the same geological conditions, were
found teeth of _Elephas columbi_. These conditions will be described on
page 329.
15. See page 135.
MICHIGAN.
(Map 11.)
1. _Three Oaks, Berrien County._—Mr. C. K. Warren, of Three Oaks, has in
his possession the upper and lower last molars, right and left, of an
elephant which appears to have been found somewhere in the neighborhood
of Three Oaks. These are large teeth and seem to the writer to belong to
_E. primigenius_. The left upper tooth is 300 mm. long and 100 mm. wide.
There are 22 plates. The tooth is worn back to the fourteenth plate, 170
mm. high. There are only seven plates in a 100–mm. line, but it must be
taken into account that the tooth is a large one for the species. The
plates are parallel with one another and the base of the tooth is
straight. The enamel is thin.
One of the lower teeth has a length of 342 mm. The height at the first
unworn plate, about the fourteenth, is 135 mm. On the outer face there
are six plates in a 100–mm. line.
Not knowing exactly where these teeth were found or at what depth, not
much can be said regarding them. However, the region about Three Oaks is
occupied by Wisconsin drift and the animal quite certainly lived during
the Late Wisconsin stage.
As shown by the map of mastodons in Michigan (map 8), at least three
specimens of the American mastodon have been found in this county. It is
extremely probable that the two species lived together.
2. _Eaton Rapids, Eaton County._—In the Michigan Agricultural School, at
East Lansing, is a lower jaw (No. 8260) of _Elephas primigenius_, found
at Eaton Rapids, on the Grand River. Dr. A. C. Lane (Ann. Rep. Geol.
Surv. Michigan for 1905, p. 553) says that it was found 2 miles below
the town. It was found in 1904 by Charles H. Fry. The jaw contains a
tooth on each side, and in front of each is a socket for a missing
tooth. Behind the tooth is a cavity in the jaw for a succeeding tooth.
The one present is taken to be the first true molar. There are present
13, possibly 14, plates. The length of the tooth is 123 mm., its width
51 mm. The enamel is thin and little crinkled. The jaw is 100 mm. high
at the rear of the tooth present.
Eaton Rapids is situated on the Grand River, where the latter breaks
through the Charlotte morainic system. In this county there have been
found two mastodons, one about Belleview, the other in the vicinity of
Olivet.
INDIANA.
(Map 11.)
IN AREA COVERED BY ILLINOIAN DRIFT.
1. _Otter Creek Township, Vigo County._—In Ward’s Natural History
Establishment, Rochester, New York, the writer saw a pair of upper
second molars which, in 1885, were found in Otter Creek Township. They
were dug up on the farm of W. H. Stewart, while making a ditch in low
ground. From information received from Mr. S. D. Humphrey, North Terre
Haute, it appears that the locality is not far from the common
meeting-point of sections 8, 9, 16, 17 of township 13 north, range 8
west. The complete tooth, the one of the left side, had 22 plates and a
front and a rear talon. The length was 248 mm., the width 96 mm. There
were 10 plates in a line 100 mm. long. This thinness of the plates is
evidence as to the specific identity of the animal.
2. _Madison, Jefferson County._—The collection of the Academy of Natural
Sciences, at Philadelphia, contains a large lower last molar of the
right side, presented by Dr. Hallowell in 1840, and labeled as coming
from Madison. The length is 245 mm., and there are 9 plates in 100 mm.
This tooth was mentioned by Dr. Leidy in 1869. From the information
furnished one can conclude only that _Elephas primigenius_ once lived in
southern Indiana.
3. _Vevay, Switzerland County._—Professor E. Danglade, of the U. S. Fish
Commission, presented the U. S. National Museum a tooth (No. 7913),
apparently a second true molar, possibly the first, of _E. primigenius_.
There are 10 plates present. The tooth was found on the shore of Ohio
River about 1.5 miles below Vevay, having been washed out of a gravel
bank, and is much weathered. No exact conclusions about the age of the
tooth can be drawn from the known facts.
IN AREA BETWEEN THE SHELBYVILLE AND THE BLOOMINGTON MORAINES.
10. _Webster, Wayne County._—In the collection of Earlham College are 2
elephant teeth, credited to Jehiel Bond and found on Nolands Fork, near
Webster, Wayne County. One is the second molar of the right side of the
upper jaw and is much worn; the other is the third upper molar of
apparently the same side and is but little worn. These teeth were
mentioned by the author in his report on the “Pleistocene Vertebrata of
Indiana” (33d Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Indiana, p. 750), but he had not
then determined to what species they belonged. A renewed study shows
that they certainly belong to _Elephas primigenius_. With these teeth is
a tusk which measures 1,800 mm. along the convex curve.
Webster is situated south of the Bloomington moraine, in a tract of
country indicated by Leverett as covered by undulating drift, in part
morainic.
The greater part of this political township, made up apparently of parts
of townships numbered 13 north and ranges 8 and 9 west, is occupied by
outwash deposits laid down by the Wabash River and brought from further
north during the Wisconsin stage; but at present, at least, it is
impossible to assign the animal to any particular division of that
stage.
IN AREA NORTH OF BLOOMINGTON MORAINE AND SOUTH OF THE MISSISSINAWA
MORAINE AND THE WABASH RIVER.
4. _Windsor, Randolph County._—In the collection at Earlham College,
Richmond, Indiana, is a part of a tooth referred to this species. It is
either the last milk molar or the first true molar of the right side of
the lower jaw. There are present eleven plates and one or more is
missing from the rear. The length along the base is 100 mm., the width
is 55 mm. There are six plates in a line 50 mm. long. This tooth was
found August 20, 1893, in the bed of Stony Creek, near Windsor.
According to Leverett’s glacial map of Indiana, this is just south of
the Union City moraine near its junction with the Bloomington moraine.
By what is known of the habits of this species it may have lived even
when the glacial sheet was forming the Union City moraine.
5. _Winchester, Randolph County._—In the collection of Earlham College
is a lower molar of the right side, apparently the first, labeled as
found at Winchester. No details are furnished. Winchester lies on the
border of the Union City moraine and all the country about is occupied
by Wisconsin drift. It is quite certain, therefore, that this mammoth
lived at some time between the formation of the moraine mentioned and
the end of the Pleistocene epoch.
6. _Fairmount, Grant County._—Here was found, in 1904, the nearly
complete skeleton of the mammoth mounted in the American Museum of
Natural History in New York City. It has been described and figured by
the writer (36th Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Indiana, p. 718, figs. 63, 64;
Iowa Geol. Surv., vol. XXIII, p. 396, fig. 133). It was found on the
farm of Mrs. Dora C. Gift, about 4 miles east of Fairmount. The location
is in the southeast quarter of section 23, township 23 north, range 8
east. This information has been furnished by Mr. George Swisher,
surveyor of Grant County.
This whole region is mapped by Leverett as being occupied by ground
moraine of till plains, and the animal must have lived after the
Wisconsin ice cleared away. A tract more or less morainic, an extension
of the Union City moraine, is indicated by Leverett on his latest map as
passing further south than Fairmount. At the earliest it must have been
after the withdrawal of the ice from the Union City moraine that the
animal lived. Considering the character of the surrounding country, the
nature of the deposit inclosing the skeleton, and the depth at which it
was buried, it might be supposed that it was not long after the
formation of the Union City moraine that this elephant existed.
9. _North Liberty, St. Joseph County._—From Professor A. M. Kirsch, of
Notre Dame University, the writer received a photograph of an upper
molar of _Elephas primigenius_ found at New Liberty about 1905. This
tooth is worn to the base in front and to the fourth plate from the
rear. Evidently several plates are gone from the front. Apparently 18
remain. The extreme length is 215 mm. The edges of the plates, as seen
on the side of the tooth present a sigmoid curve. The enamel was
evidently thin.
IN AREA NORTH OF KANKAKEE RIVER.
8. _Crown Point, Lake County._—Mr. G. W. Stose, of the U. S. Geological
Survey, informed the writer that about 1888 he helped in exhuming some
bones of an elephant near Crown Point, discovered in the construction of
a large ditch in township 34 north, range 8 west. The bones lay in a
swamp clay at a depth of 8 to 10 feet. A part of a tusk, one tooth, and
one large bone were put in Guenther’s Museum, Chicago. Another tooth
(M^3) owned by Mr. Stose (No. 8067) was presented to the U. S. National
Museum in 1914. It is worn to the base in front; 22 plates remain. The
length of the tooth is 285 mm., and the width 100 mm. There are 8 plates
in a 100 mm. line. The enamel is thin and little folded.
IN AREA BETWEEN THE WABASH AND KANKAKEE RIVERS.
7. _Near Francisville, Pulaski County._—The writer has received from Mr.
W. D. Pattison, of Winamac, Indiana, two photographs of a tooth of an
elephant which quite certainly belonged to _Elephas primigenius_. The
locality is in the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section
20, township 30 north, range 4 west. According to Leverett’s map, this
is in a tract covered by Wisconsin ground moraine and but little above
the level of the Kankakee marshes, the 700–foot contour-line being not
far away. Just west of the place is a part of the Marseilles moraine.
The spot must be very near Metamonong Creek.
11. _Rochester, Fulton County._—The American Museum of Natural History,
New York, has a well-preserved skull of _Elephas primigenius_ which had
been exhumed in the vicinity of Rochester. The exact locality is not
known to the writer.
The specimen is supposed to have been a female. The tusks are slender
and only 700 mm. long. The hindermost upper molar is present. It is 245
mm. long and 75 mm. wide. There are 10 plates in a 100–mm. line. There
appear to be 25 or 26 plates present. The second molar was still in use
and about 130 mm. long. This was a large elephant, the measurements
falling only slightly below the specimen in that museum which was
obtained near Fairmount, Grant County.
ILLINOIS.
(Maps 11, 38.)
1. _Cairo, Alexander County._—The collection of the Buffalo Society of
Natural History contains a tooth of an elephant, an upper left second
true molar, apparently belonging to _Elephas primigenius_. It is
reported to have been found at Cairo, at a depth of 95 feet below the
bed of Ohio River. It was probably discovered in preparing the
foundations of a railroad bridge. It has 15 ridge-plates, besides the
front and rear talons. The length of the base, in a straight line, is
156 mm. There are 10 plates in a line 100 mm. long, a number too great
for _E. columbi_. The tooth is unworn. It has suffered no injury, as
from being rolled along the river bed; hence the animal probably died
near where the tooth was found. It is impossible to assign the tooth
with certainty to any particular stage of Pleistocene times. It seems
most probable that the animal lived at the time the Illinoian ice-sheet
was only a few miles away; the depth at which it was buried in the
filling of the river channel appears to lend confirmation to this view.
2. _Ashland, Cass County._—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 2195) are
some remains of an elephant, referred to _Elephas primigenius_, found at
Ashland in the spring of 1901. The remains consist of pieces of one
tusk, the symphysis of the lower jaw, the right and left upper
hindermost molars, the right lower last molar, a fragment of the rear of
a much-worn upper second molar, and another of a correspondingly worn
lower second molar. They were found in tilling a farm near Ashland by
Mr. J. W. Arnold, of Jacksonville, Illinois.
The upper teeth resemble greatly those figured by the writer in his
report on the Pleistocene Mammalia of Iowa (Iowa Geol. Surv., vol.
XXIII, plate LIX); but the teeth from Ashland are more worn than those
found in Milwaukee. The last molars from Ashland are worn back to about
the eleventh ridge-plate, and the second molar is worn so that only its
rear portion remained. The length of the upper molars is about 275 mm.
The height of the eleventh plate is 185 mm.; the breadth of the
grinding-surface is 90 mm. One or two of the hinder plates are missing,
but evidently there were at least 24. There are 9 or 10 ridge-plates in
a 100–mm. line on the worn surface; farther towards the base 8 plates in
the same space. The ridge-plates are little bent; the enamel is thin and
little sinuous in its way across the worn surface of the tooth.