Natural History in New York is a part of an elephant tooth (Cat. No.
10488) which the writer identifies as belonging to _Elephas columbi_,
and which is recorded as having been found at Elmira. There are only 3
ridge-plates in the fragment. As to the time during the Pleistocene when
this species lived in New York, all that can be said is that it was
during the last half of the Wisconsin stage. No specimens have been
found as close to the glacial lakes preceding Lake Ontario as in the
cases of _Elephas primigenius_, but this may be due to accidents of
preservation or to failures of discovery.
NEW JERSEY.
(Map 12.)
1. _Middletown, Monmouth County._—In 1818 (Cuvier’s “Theory of the
Earth,” p. 384, plate I, figs. 2, 5), S. L. Mitchill referred to a tooth
of an elephant found somewhere about Middletown. In his “Catalogue of
Organic Remains,” 1826, page 10, Mitchill mentioned a singular
boat-shaped tooth of an elephant, found on Bennett’s farm, Middletown,
New Jersey. Both references are to the same tooth; the shape was due to
the wear the tooth had suffered. It was said to come from the region
where the horse remains were obtained. This tooth was a lower right
hindermost molar, much worn. It evidently belonged to _Elephas columbi_.
We have no other information about the specimen. It appears probable
that the deposits which yielded remains of horses and of elephants are
to be referred to an interglacial stage, at least as old as the
Sangamon. The finding of a bone of _Megatherium_ along the New Jersey
coast suggests that the Aftonian may be represented there.
PENNSYLVANIA.
(Map 12.)
1. _Rogersville, Greene County._—The writer has received from Mr. Andrew
Waychoff, of Waynesburg, a small photograph of a lower hindermost molar,
found 3 miles south of Rogersville, in the bed of Hargus Creek. The
tooth was found about 1909 or 1910 and passed into the possession of Mr.
Waychoff; but it had been broken by the finder, who wished to see what
was in it. The tooth has 8 ridge-plates in a 100–mm. line and the form
and arrangement of the plates indicate that it belonged to _Elephas
columbi_. It is impossible to determine, with the knowledge at command,
the stage of the Pleistocene to which this animal is to be assigned.
2. _Pittsburgh, Allegheny County._—In 1910 (Science, n. s., vol. XXXI,
p. 31), an anonymous note stated that there was in Carnegie Museum of
Natural History an enormous tusk, supposed to be of this species, found
in the banks of the Allegheny River, in a suburb of Pittsburgh. There
is, however, no certainty that the tusk was not that of _E. primigenius_
or of _Mammut americanum_. In either case it would be difficult to refer
the animal to any definite Pleistocene stage.
3. _Tryonville, Crawford County._—In 1892, Mr. H. Roberts sent to the
Smithsonian Institution considerable parts of a skeleton of _Elephas
columbi_, including the hinder part of a lower molar, probably the
penultimate. These remains had been found in digging a cellar in
Tryonville, at a depth of 7 feet. Tryonville is on Oil Creek and in the
eastern part of the county. From Mrs. A. A. O’Dell, Niagara Falls, New
York, daughter of Mr. Roberts, the writer learns that the cellar was at
a height of 80 feet above the level of Oil Creek. Since that time the
creek has abandoned its channel at that point.
OHIO.
(Maps 12, 36.)
1. _Stark County._—In Princeton University is a large lower left
hindermost molar catalogued as having been found in Stark County. The
tooth has 24 ridge-plates and is worn back to the fourteenth from the
front. The length from the front of the tooth to the base of the last
plate is 315 mm. There is no exact record of the locality. The Grand
River moraine of the Wisconsin ice covers most of this county, so that
the animal probably lived after the ice had disappeared from that
vicinity.
2. _Amboy, Ashtabula County._—In the collection of the Buffalo (New
York) Natural History Society is a small elephant tooth, evidently a
second milk molar, found at Amboy. It is regarded by the writer as
belonging to _Elephas columbi_. There are present 7 ridge-plates and all
have suffered wear. The length from front to rear is 114 mm.
In the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, is a large lower right
hindermost molar of an elephant found at Amboy, in the extreme
northeastern corner of the State. There is a description and figure of
this tooth in the Scientific American for January 23, 1904, on page 60.
It is there called _Elephas primigenius_. It presents 23 plates and
front and rear talons; the length from the base in front to the rear of
the hinder talon is 295 mm. There are from 6 to 8 plates in a 100–mm.
line. The tooth was found between 1890 and 1900 in a gravel-pit near
Amboy, worked by the Lake Shore Railroad. In the same pit was discovered
a tusk which may have belonged to the same animal. A tooth of _Elephas
primigenius_ at the Buffalo Society of Natural History was probably
found at the same place. The writer is informed by Professor Frank R.
Van Horn, of the Case School of Applied Science, that the deposit
consists of interstratified sands and gravels and is supposed to be the
delta formation of the old Conneaut River. Its thickness was from 50 to
75 feet. In this deposit was driftwood, arranged in such regular order
that it suggested the idea that it had formed part of a corduroy road.
MICHIGAN.
(Map 12.)
1. _Jackson County._—In 1863 (Canad. Naturalist and Geologist, vol.
VIII, p. 399), Alexander Winchell described an elephant tooth (No.
3163), found in this county. This is now in the collection at the
University of Michigan, labeled _Elephas jacksoni_. The writer regards
it as belonging to _E. columbi_. It is the much-worn hindermost tooth of
the left side of the lower jaw. There are present 17 plates, and about 7
are missing from the front end. Above the bases of the rear plates are
only 5 in a 100–mm. line; on the worn face are 7 plates in this
distance. The anterior plates lean backward with respect to the base,
while the hinder ones lean forward. The plates are more or less bent
between base and apex. The Kalamazoo morainic system crosses the middle
of Jackson County, running east and west.
In 1861 (1st Bien. Rep. Geol. Surv. Michigan, p. 132), Professor
Winchell mentioned this tooth and stated that it had been found in the
northern part of the county while a ditch was being made. The locality
is, therefore, north of the moraine referred to above.
INDIANA.
(Map 12.)
1. _Terre Haute, Vigo County._—In the State Museum at Indianapolis is a
fine lower left molar of _E. columbi_, labeled as found, in 1896, near
Terre Haute, on the farm of Aaron Conover, and presented by Earl
Conover. Mr. Herbert C. Anderson, county surveyor of Vigo County,
informed the writer that the farm is located in the southwest quarter of
section 9, township 12 north, range 9 west. This is 3.5 miles north of
Terre Haute. The place is near Wabash River and the deposit is probably
outwash from one of the ice-sheets. The depth at which the tooth was
found is given as 18 feet. The length from the top of the anterior plate
to the base of the hindermost is 380 mm.; width of worn face 100 mm. The
hinder plates lean strongly toward the front and there are 6 plates in
100 mm.
2. _Monrovia, Morgan County._—The collection of the State Museum at
Indianapolis contains the hinder half of what appears to be the lower
right last molar. This was presented January 10, 1911, by David Hobson,
of Monrovia, Indiana, and is labeled as found 1.5 miles southeast of
Monrovia, in a gravel bar in Sycamore Creek. There are present 13
plates, considerably flexed as they rise from base to summit.
According to Leverett’s glacial map of Indiana, Monrovia is situated on
the northern edge of the Shelbyville moraine. The tooth seems to have
been found in Sycamore Creek, on the moraine or near its southern
border, not far from the northern border of the Illinoian drift area.
While the possessor of this tooth probably lived during some period of
the Wisconsin stage, it is possible that the tooth had been washed out
of some deposit of the Illinoian or of some interglacial deposit laid
down between the Illinoian and the Wisconsin stages.
3. _Windfall, Tipton County._—In the Morrill collection, in the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, there are two teeth, an upper and a
lower last molar, secured at Windfall by Professor Erwin H. Barbour.
These teeth have been described and illustrated by the writer (36th Ann.
Rep. Geol. Surv. Indiana, p. 742, plates XXV, XXVI). Windfall is
situated on Wisconsin drift, some miles west of the more or less
morainic belt which marks the northwestward continuation of the Union
City moraine.
4. _Bringhurst, Carroll County._—In the State Museum at Indianapolis is
a last molar found some years ago near Bringhurst and presented by Mr.
John Flora. There are 27 plates present, an unusual number. The length
of the tooth is 320 mm. from the summit of the first to the base of the
twenty-sixth. No information was furnished as to the exact place where
the tooth was found, nor as to the depth and kind of materials.
Bringhurst is situated on Wisconsin drift, and the animal must have
lived at some time after the ice retired from the Fowler-Lafayette
moraine.
ILLINOIS.
(Maps 12, 38.)
1. _Staley, Champaign County._—In the collection at the University of
Illinois the writer has seen a lower last molar recorded as having been
found by John Early at a point 5.5 miles west and 1.5 miles south of
Champaign, apparently not far from Staley. It is said to have been
picked up by a dredge; hence probably in some ditching operations. The
writer regarded the tooth as belonging to _Elephas columbi_.
Apparently this tooth was found very near the outer border of the
Champaign moraine; hence the animal might have lived at any time after
the deposition of this moraine. It is more probable, however, that this
species did not affect such a cold environment, and haunted those
regions when the climate had greatly ameliorated.
2. _Stronghurst, Henderson County._—In the summer of 1914, Mr. John
Shick discovered near Stronghurst, in a well, at a depth of 20 feet,
four elephant teeth. A letter, with photographs of these teeth, sent to
the U. S. Geological Survey, was shown the writer, who identified the
teeth as belonging to _Elephas columbi_, apparently the second and third
upper deciduous molars, right and left. They were reported to have been
found in a dark soil. All the region about Stronghurst is occupied by
Illinoian drift. Since at a depth of 20 feet an old soil was reached it
becomes quite certain that this represents a pre-Illinoian interglacial
deposit, probably the Yarmouth stage; and to that must be assigned the
time of the elephant in question.
3. _Chillicothe, Peoria County._—In the palæontological collection of
the University of Iowa is a tooth of _Elephas columbi_, recorded as
collected at Chillicothe by Fred Wachs. It was found in gravel, at a
depth of 40 feet, but the exact locality is not known. The tooth is the
first lower true molar.
It is impossible to determine the geological age of this tooth.
Chillicothe is situated on Illinois River and within the area of the
Wisconsin drift. The valley is filled with deposits brought down from
the Wisconsin ice-sheet and by late alluvium; but at a depth of 40 feet
there might possibly be some earlier gravels.
4. _Chicago Heights, Cook County._—From J. H. Knapp, Chicago Heights,
the writer has received photographs of a lower hindermost molar of
_Elephas columbi_, found in Second Creek, 2.5 miles east of Chicago
Heights. This locality is situated on the Valparaiso moraine and we must
refer the time of the existence of the elephant to the Late Wisconsin
stage.
5. _Pawpaw, Lee County._—In the collection of the palæontological
department of the University of Nebraska the writer saw a lower molar of
_Elephas columbi_ (apparently the left second), found at Pawpaw. It was
presented by Dr. M. H. Everett, of Lincoln, Nebraska. There are present
19 ridge-plates, and there are 7 plates in a 100–mm. line.
On inquiry by the writer Mr. Frank Wheeler, of Pawpaw, furnished
detailed information. In constructing an ice-pond there was found at a
depth of 4 feet parts of both hip-bones, a femur 4 feet 4 inches long,
some much decayed foot-bones, some vertebræ and ribs, and the head and
lower jaw. The head is said to have been nearly 3 feet long and the
lower jaw 26 inches long. In the latter were two huge teeth. It appears
that the forelegs were present, but much decayed. No tusks were found,
nor any upper teeth. It was concluded that the animal was 22 feet 6
inches long and between 15 and 16 feet high; but the dimensions were
undoubtedly exaggerated. Certain “streaks and mossy fibers” led to the
conclusion that the animal had been covered with a coat of hair. It is
probable that all of these remains except the tooth in Lincoln have been
lost. Undoubtedly, had an expert in exhuming such skeletal remains been
called in there might have been rescued a large part of the skeleton. Up
to this time no good skeleton has been secured of _E. columbi_.
The place where the skeleton was found is in the southwest quarter of
the southeast quarter of section 10, township 37 north, range 2 east.
This is situated on a member of the Bloomington morainic system, a
moraine left by the Wisconsin ice-sheet. It is evident, therefore, that
the skeleton of the elephant had, during some Late Wisconsin time,
fallen in a pond and become slowly covered up.
There is an account of this discovery in F. E. Stevens’s “History of Lee
County, Illinois,” 1914, page 527.
6. _Woodhull, Henry County._—In the Galesburg, Illinois, Register of May
14, 1911, appeared an account of the finding of three large molars and
some bones of a supposed mastodon in a clay of a brick and tile factory
at Woodhull.
Professor Page L. Baker, superintendent of schools in Woodhull, states
that first a part, 6 feet 10 inches long, of a tusk was found, 9 inches
in circumference at the base, 6 inches at the other end. Some scattered
bony plates supposed to belong to the skull were observed, but no
limb-bones were found. Five teeth were secured, varying in weight from 6
to 16 pounds; one had 20 enamel plates, and there were 6 of these plates
in a 100–mm. line. It can hardly be doubted that the species represented
was _Elephas columbi_.
Professor Baker stated that the pit was about 14 feet deep, the upper 2
feet consisting of prairie soil, possibly loess. Below this is 10 feet
of red clay, and then about 2 feet of white clay, resting on a layer of
muck. The bones were in the white clay, but resting on the muck. The
teeth were wholly in the white clay. The tusk was removed about 15 feet
from the teeth. This region is covered by Illinois drift, overlain by
loess, sometimes of considerable thickness. It does not appear from the
depth and character of the deposits that the Illinoian drift had been
penetrated. The muck-bed belongs probably to the Sangamon stage,
possibly to the Iowan. The reader is referred to the geological sections
found at Galva, about 18 miles further east (see p. 142).
MARYLAND.
(Map 12.)
1. _Oxford Neck, Talbot County._—In 1869 (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol.
XI, p. 178), Cope wrote that there had been found on the farm of Lambert
Kirby, in Oxford Neck, a molar tooth resembling that of a half-grown
_Elephas primigenius_ or _E. columbi_. Besides this tooth were remains
of what Cope called _Elephas americanus_ Leidy. These, it is supposed,
belonged to _Elephas primigenius_. The collection referred to had been
placed in the cabinet of the Baltimore Academy of Sciences; but the
writer has not seen it. Lucas (Maryland Geol. Surv., Pliocene and
Pleistocene, 1906, p. 167) describes the teeth from this locality. He
identified one small tooth as belonging certainly to _E. columbi_, and a
large one as probably belonging to the same species.
2. _Queen Anne County._—In 1820, Horace H. Hayden (Geolog. Essays, p.
121) wrote that he had an enormous grinder of the Asiatic elephant, dug
up in the county named, on the plantation of Mr. Carmichael. It was said
to have been enveloped in a stiff blue clay.
Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill (Cuvier’s “Theory of the Earth,” 1818, p. 394,
plate I, figs. 3, 5) mentions and figures the tooth, apparently that of
_Elephas columbi_. It is said to have been dug out of the ground by the
side of a marsh. It was the last upper molar of probably the right side.
WEST VIRGINIA.
(Map 12.)
1. _Wirt County._—From Professor John L. Tilton, of the University of
West Virginia, the writer has received for examination a fragment of a
tooth of _Elephas columbi_ reported to have been found many years ago,
somewhere in Wirt County along Little Kanawha River. No details have
been preserved. The thick ridge-plates and the heavy crimped enamel
betray the species.
NORTH CAROLINA.
(Maps 12, 39.)
1. _New Hanover County._—In the State Museum at Raleigh, the writer has
seen a part of a molar tooth of this species consisting of 9
ridge-plates. It is said to have been found in the quarry of Ross and
Larry. There are 8 ridge-plates in a 100–mm. line and the enamel is
rather thick.
Captain E. D. Williams, of Wilmington, has informed the writer that this
quarry is situated about 9 miles below Wilmington, near the Fort Fisher
road. From a point a little below this Captain Williams secured a tooth
of _Mammut americanum_.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
(Map 12.)
1. _Beaufort, Beaufort County._—In 1877, Dr. Leidy (Jour. Acad. Nat.
Sci. Phila., vol. VIII, p. 213) stated that there was in the exhibit of
the Smithsonian Institution at the exposition at Philadelphia, in 1876,
a last lower molar of this species, found at Beaufort. The present
writer has not recognized the tooth in the collection of the U. S.
National Museum.
In Rutgers College are six or more teeth or parts of teeth of _E.
columbi_, recorded as coming from Coosaw River. In the collection of
Amherst College the writer has seen two lower hindermost molars, labeled
as collected in Coosaw River.
2. _Edisto River._—In the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia there is a fragment of a molar of _Elephas columbi_,
comprising only 2 ridge-plates, recorded as having been found in or on
Edisto River. The specimen is credited to Dr. H. C. Chapman. While the
locality is indefinite, it probably was somewhere around Edisto Island.
3. _Charleston, Charleston County._—Numerous teeth of _Elephas columbi_
have been found in the region surrounding Charleston. Godman (Amer. Nat.
Hist., vol. II, p. 257) referred to a statement made by Catesby to the
effect that negroes had found teeth along Stono River which they
recognized as those of an elephant. This had previously been mentioned
by Barton in his “Archæologia Americana,” 1814. In Holmes’s
“Post-Pliocene Fossils of South Carolina,” page 108, Leidy stated that
small fragments of teeth and bones, usually much water-worn, of the
extinct elephant are not infrequently found in the Post-Pliocene
deposits in the vicinity of Ashley River. In a footnote to this remark,
F. S. Holmes stated that later a perfect tooth had been discovered and
was figured on plate XVII; but the tooth there figured came from Texas.
In 1870 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1870, p. 98), Leidy reported that
he had seen in the collection of C. N. Shepard, at Amherst College,
remains of elephant from Ashley River. It is certain that at least a
part of these remains belonged to _Elephas columbi_. In the U. S.
National Museum are teeth, recorded as having been secured from the
phosphate beds about Charleston. As an example may be mentioned No.
2105, a large upper right molar, with 20 ridge-plates. Another has the
number 1614 (Hay, Iowa Geol. Surv., vol. XXIII, p. 413, plate LXI, fig.
4).
In the Charleston Museum the writer has seen a lower second milk molar
(No. 13504) of this species. There are 9 ridge-plates and front and rear
talons. The length is 123 mm., the width 52 mm., with 8 plates in a
100–mm. line. In the same museum is an upper left second milk molar (No.
1109) with 8 plates present. The length along the base is 95 mm.; from
the base in front to the rear of the crown 117 mm.; width 55 mm. This
tooth appears to have been found somewhere about Charleston. In the same
museum are other teeth of this species, mostly parts of the hindermost
molars. Other teeth are found in the private collections of Charleston.
In the American Museum of Natural History, New York, there are some
teeth (Nos. 13707, 13708) from the vicinity of Charleston which are
referred to _Elephas columbi_. One is an upper hindermost molar, worn to
the base in front and having left 18 plates. There are 6 plates in a
100–mm. line. The enamel is thick. The length of the tooth is 292 mm.;
the width, 90 mm. Another is a worn lower tooth with 16 plates.
Another tooth, either a last milk molar or a first true molar, is not
worn to the base and retains the front root. There are 12 plates and a
large talon and a 100–mm. line crosses 8 plates. The enamel is thick and
considerably festooned. The greatest length of the tooth is 173 mm.
There is another lower right tooth, probably the last milk molar, which
presents 11 plates and front and rear talons. There are nearly 8 plates
in a 100–mm. line.
Another right lower tooth, apparently the first true molar, 165 mm. long
on the grinding-face, has likewise 8 plates in 100 mm. A part of an
upper hindermost molar preserves 11 plates. There are 6 plates in 100
mm. and the enamel is thick and folded.
For a list of the vertebrate fossils found in the region about
Charleston, and their geological age, the reader is referred to page
363.
4. _Head of Cooper River, Berkeley County._—In 1802, John Drayton (“A
View of South Carolina,” p. 40, plate, fig. 5) wrote that elephant bones
had been discovered in the excavation of a canal joining Santee and
Cooper Rivers. Drayton’s illustration shows that this tooth must have
belonged to _Elephas columbi_. The locality was in Biggin Swamp,
apparently not far from Monks Corner. At the same time and place were
found remains of _Mammut americanum_. The materials are said to have
been deposited in the Charleston Library. Barton (Archæologia Amer., p.
22) stated he had examined teeth of both the mastodon and the elephant
from this place. Richard Harlan (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., ser. 1,
vol. III, p. 66, plate V, fig. 3; Med. Phys. Res. p. 359, plate, fig. 3)
stated that a tooth of an elephant from the Santee Canal had been sent
to the Academy at Philadelphia.
GEORGIA.
(Map 12.)
1. _Brunswick, Glynn County._—This is the type locality of _Elephas
columbi_. This species was based by Falconer (Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc.
Lond., XIII, 1857, table opposite p. 219) on a part of a tooth received
from the geologist Charles Lyell and which had been found in the
Brunswick Canal. The specimen consisted of 10 median plates of a lower
second or third molar. Falconer figured it in 1868 (Palæont. Mem., vol.
II, pp. 214, 221, plate X). Lyell (Second Visit, etc. vol. I, p. 348)
noted that an elephant had been found in excavating the canal. Richard
Harlan, in 1842 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. I, p. 189), stated
that a large collection of bones of various animals had been presented
to the Academy by J. Hamilton Couper, of Darien, Georgia. Among these
were teeth of _E. primigenius_. Couper, in 1848 (Hodgson’s Memoir, etc.,
p. 45), stated that two lower jawbones with teeth, several loose teeth,
two tusks, and several vertebræ of _Elephas primigenius_ had been
collected in the canal during 1838 and 1839. These remains quite
certainly belonged to _Elephas columbi_ unless possibly some belonged to
_E. imperator_.
Leidy (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. VII, 1869, p. 254) records the
presence in the collection of the Academy of a lower molar of _E.
columbi_. The present writer has seen in this collection parts of four
teeth of this species which had been sent from the Brunswick Canal,
doubtless parts of the Couper collection. The species are listed on page
369.
2. _Skidaway Island, near Savannah, Chatham County._—Lyell (Second
Visit, etc., vol. I, p. 314) reported that _Elephas primigenius_ had
been found at this place, with _Megatherium_, _Mylodon_, _Mastodon_, and
what was doubtless a species of _Bison_. Habersham, in 1846 (Hodgson’s
Memoir, etc., p. 29), mentioned two teeth which he identified likewise
as _E. primigenius_. These elephant teeth are all to be referred with
much certainty to _E. columbi_.