to page 371, map 40.
FLORIDA.
(Maps 12, 13.)
1. _St. Marks River, Wakulla County._—In 1870 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Phila., 1870, p. 98), Leidy stated that from this place there was in the
collection of the Natural History Society of Boston a molar of the
thick-plated variety of elephant. The grinding-surface, irregular and
worn so as to present a terraced appearance, has a length of 8.5 inches
and included 11 ridge-plates. The species is quite certainly _Elephas
columbi_.
It may be mentioned that Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p.
103) reported that part of a skeleton of a mastodon or of an elephant
had been obtained from Wakulla Spring by Mr. John L. Thomas. This is
near Crawfordville.
2. _Station 120, Duval County._—Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv.
Florida, p. 106) reported that _Elephas columbi_ had been discovered at
Station 120, on the Inland Waterway Canal. At the same place had been
found _Mammut americanum_, an undetermined species of _Bison_, and an
undetermined species of _Odocoileus_. The locality is probably 5 miles
south of Pablo Beach.
3. _Citra, Marion County._—In January 1914, the writer saw at Ward’s
Establishment, at Rochester, New York, the hinder half of a lower left
hindermost molar of _Elephas columbi_, labeled as found at Citra. No
details were preserved respecting the history of the tooth. There were 6
ridge-plates in a 100–mm. line.
4. _Near Mantanzas, St. John County._—At the residence of Fred R. Allen,
St. Augustine, Florida, the writer has seen part of four hindermost
molars, three upper and one lower, of _Elephas columbi_, found in the
Inland Waterway Canal, near his farm, 28 miles south of St. Augustine,
apparently not far from Mantanzas. At the same place have been found
_Mammut americanum_, _Equus_ sp., _Mylodon harlani_, and _Terrapene
antipex_. Sellards (8th Rep. p. 106) adds to this list an undetermined
species of _Bison_ and one of _Odocoileus_.
5. _Ocala, Marion County._—From this place Leidy (Trans. Wagner Inst.,
vol. II, p. 17, plate III, figs. 6–9) has described and figured a first
and a second milk molar. The figures have been reproduced by the writer
(Iowa Geol. Surv., vol. XXIII, plate LXI, figs. 2, 3, 5, 6). These teeth
certainly belong to _Elephas columbi_. They were found in a fissure in a
limestone rock, near Ocala, in the property of Mr. F. M. Phillips. With
them were a part of a skull of _Smilodon floridanus_, teeth of a horse
which Leidy referred to his _Equus fraternus_ (=_E. leidyi_), and teeth
supposed to belong to the little camel _Procamelus (Auchenia) minimus_.
These fossils were referred to the Pliocene, but apparently there is not
sufficient reason for doing so. The geology of the locality is treated
on page 378.
6. _Dunnellon, Marion County._—In the collection of the Florida
Geological Survey, No. 2232, is a part of the rear of what is regarded
as a hindermost upper molar, found in a phosphate mine near Dunnellon.
There are 7 ridge-plates, but some are missing from the front and some
from the rear. The height of the front plate present is 210 mm.; the
width is 82 mm. There are 6 plates in a 100–mm. line. This tooth is
remarkable because of its thinness. It is possibly a more anterior
tooth, but is rather high to be such.
The geology of the neighborhood of Dunnellon and a list of the species
collected there are to be found on page 376.
7. _Holder, Citrus County._—In the collection of Dr. H. G. Bystra,
chemist of the Buttgenbach river mine, is a fragment of a tooth of
_Elephas columbi_, found in the mine, on Withlacoochee River, a few
miles north of Holder, in section 29, township 17 south, range 19 east.
In the same collection are a fragment of an upper and one of a lower
molar, found in the same place in dredging for phosphate rock.
21. _Sumterville, Sumter County._—In the collection of the Florida
Geological Survey (No. 240) is a single plate of a tooth of _Elephas
columbi_, found by Dr. Sellards 3 miles east of Holder.
16. _Daytona, Volusia County._—In 1916 (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol.
Surv., p. 105), Sellards stated that Mr. Morris, of Daytona, had found
in a marl pit a tooth of _Elephas columbi_. As stated on page 122,
remains of _Mammut americanum_ have been found in similar pits. In these
pits were collected a piece of a tusk of a proboscidean and a rib of a
whale, thought to belong to the genus _Balænoptera_.
In the Fifth Annual Report of the Florida Geological Survey, on pages
222 to 225, are presented the logs of artesian wells put down at
Daytona. In one well was found a bed of white marl at a depth of 6 feet,
having a thickness of 9 feet. It is possible that this corresponds to
the marl-bed which furnished the elephant and whale, and it may belong
to the first glacial stage.
8. _Tampa, Hillsboro County._—In the collection of Heidelberg
University, Tiffin, Ohio, the writer has seen a fragment consisting of
two plates of an upper molar of _Elephas columbi_, labeled as having
been found at Tampa.
9. _St. Petersburg, Pinellas County._—In the museum of the State
University at Gainesville, Florida, is an upper left second molar of
_Elephas columbi_ recorded as having been found at Indian Rock, a
village near St. Petersburg, in the peninsula west of Tampa Bay. The
tooth is covered with barnacles and had evidently been in salt water. No
other information was secured respecting the tooth.
10. _Kingsford, Polk County._—In the collection of Yale University is a
fragment of a lower molar of _Elephas columbi_, recorded as having been
found at Kingsford. It was obtained under 19 feet of phosphate rock and
sand. The collector was Juan C. Edmundoz. There are present 5 coarse
plates. The tooth belongs possibly to _E. imperator_. As recorded on
another page, teeth of horses have been found in the same situation. If
correctly reported, they belong, with the phosphate, to the Nebraskan
stage of the Pleistocene.
20. _Palma Sola, Manatee County._—There has been sent to the U. S.
National Museum, with other fossils, a fragment of a tooth of _Elephas
columbi_, washed up on the beach at Palma Sola, and found by Mr. Chas.
T. Earle. Besides the elephant tooth were fragments of deer antlers,
several teeth of _Equus complicatus_, a few of _E. leidyi_, one of _E.
littoralis_, and an astragalus and a metapodial of _Bison latifrons?_.
These all belong apparently to early Pleistocene. With them came teeth
of sharks, a beak of a porpoise, and the distal end of a metapodial of a
camel, all probably washed out of Miocene or Pliocene deposits in the
neighborhood.
11. _Sarasota, Sarasota County._—In the American Museum of Natural
History are two fragments of teeth of _Elephas columbi_ collected about
8 miles southeast of Sarasota by Mr. Barnum Brown, in 1911; one consists
of three, the other of two plates. With them were found fragments of
extinct turtles and a dermal plate of an edentate, possibly of
_Chlamytherium_; also several teeth of horses.
18. _Eau Gallie, Brevard County._—Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol.
Surv., p. 105) announced that teeth of _Elephas columbi_ and of _Equus
complicatus_ had been found in the Hopkins Drainage Canal.
17. _Fellsmere, St. Lucie County._—Sellards (op. cit., p. 105) reported
a tooth or teeth of _Elephas columbi_ found in a drainage canal at this
place.
12. _Vero, St. Lucie County._—Numerous fragments of teeth of _Elephas
columbi_ have been found at Vero. The geology will be discussed on pages
381 to 383, and a list of the fossil vertebrates that have been found at
Vero will be presented.
13. _Zolfo, Hardee County._—In the American Museum of Natural History
(No. 15546) is the right ramus with the symphysis and one tooth of
_Elephas columbi_. The tooth is quite certainly the hindermost one.
Thirteen plates are present and a number must have worn out and
disappeared from the front. Zolfo is on Peace Creek.
14. _Arcadia, De Soto County._—Numerous remains of _Elephas columbi_
have been found at Arcadia and vicinity, mostly in the course of
dredging for phosphate. The geology of the region is discussed on pages
380–381 and a list presented of fossil vertebrates found there.
Leidy (Trans. Wagner Inst., vol. II, p. 22, plate VII) figured a very
large tooth found at Arcadia. It has 27 plates and is 400 mm. long.
There are 6 plates in a 100–mm. line. This tooth is in the collection of
the Wagner Institute in Philadelphia. Leidy recorded also a part of a
last molar, now in the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia.
In the collection of the Public Museum at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is an
upper, left, hindermost molar labeled as found in the phosphate beds of
Peace Creek, probably at Arcadia. It was presented by Mr. Ad. Meinecke.
There are 6 plates and a little more in a 100–mm. line. Teeth, Nos. 319
and 1991, from Arcadia, are in the U. S. National Museum. No. 1571 of
the Florida Geological Survey was found 6 miles north of Arcadia.
15. _Tourner’s, Glades County._—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 8088)
is a part of a tooth of _Elephas columbi_ sent by J. M. Purvis,
Tourner’s, Florida. It was reported as having been collected on the
Caloosahatchee River at the place named. This place (spelled also
Turner’s) appears to be near Thompson’s and probably in township 43
south, range 29 east. This tooth appears to be the penultimate milk
molar; there are 9 ridge-plates in a 100–mm. line. The enamel is thin
and much folded.
Leidy (Trans. Wagner Inst., vol. II, p. 23) recorded the discovery of a
last molar tooth of _E. columbi_ at some point on the river mentioned.
The tooth is in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Dall
(Bull. 84, U. S. Geol. Surv., p. 129) on the authority of Leidy stated
that _Bison latifrons_ and _Equus fraternus_ had been found in the
Pliocene beds along this river. It is probable that he used _B.
latifrons_ in a wide sense. Sellards (8th Rep., p. 102) shows that at
least the elephant and the horse were from the Pleistocene.
19. _Palm Beach, Palm Beach County._—Sellards, in his Eighth Annual
Report, page 105, stated that there had been secured from the Palm Beach
Canal for the drainage of the Everglades, teeth of _Elephas columbi_, as
well as those of _Equus complicatus_ and _Mammut americanum_, and a
femur of a species of _Bison_.
KENTUCKY.
(Map 12.)
1. _Bigbone Lick, Boone County._—In the Academy of Natural Sciences at
Philadelphia the writer has seen a number of teeth which belong to
_Elephas columbi_, found at Bigbone Lick. Whether or not these are part
of the collection given by President Thomas Jefferson the writer has not
learned. One of these teeth has been described and figured by the writer
(Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXXVI, p. 737, plate XXII, fig. 1). It is
identified as the upper hindermost milk molar, is wholly unworn, and
shows well the form of the crown before it came into action. In that
stage the roots are almost wholly undeveloped. The length taken at right
angles with the plates is 145 mm. For remarks on the geology of this
locality and a list of the species of vertebrates the reader is referred
to pages 401 to 404.
2. _Mouth of Big Twin Creek, Owen County._—In the American Museum of
Natural History are two fine teeth and a lower jaw, with the ascending
rami missing, found where the creek opens into Kentucky River. From the
finders, Mr. H. B. Ogden and his son, the writer learned that the jaw
was about on a level with the water. They had fastened their boat to it,
thinking it was a stump. The top of the bluff was about 35 feet above
the water. Some other bones were secured, among them a humerus. The
bones were in a mixture of what Mr. Ogden called hardpan and sand. No
certain statements can be made about the geological age of this
specimen. It might well be pre-Wisconsin.
FINDS OF ELEPHAS IMPERATOR IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
(Map 14.)
1. _Charleston, Charleston County._—A number of teeth of _Elephas
imperator_ have been seen by the writer in the collections made in the
vicinity of Charleston.
No. 13557 of the Charleston Museum is a right ramus of the lower jaw
containing the hindermost molar. Sixteen plates are counted, but it is
probable that about two are missing from the front. There is no
indication that there was another tooth behind it. The exact locality of
discovery is not known. In the Frost collection is a part (8 plates) of
a lower right last molar, which must be referred to this species. Seen
on the inner face are only four ridge-plates in a 100–mm. line. In the
collection of Rev. Robert Wilson is a fragment of a molar of _E.
imperator_. The four plates present occupy 100 mm. of the length of the
tooth.
2. _Head of Cooper River, Berkeley County._—Richard Harlan (Jour. Acad.
Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. III, 1823, p. 66, plate V, fig. 2; Med. Phys.
Res., p. 359, plate, fig. 2) described briefly and figured an elephant
tooth found in constructing the Santee Canal, probably in Biggin Swamp,
where the remains of _Mammut americanum_ and _Elephas columbi_ were
discovered. The tooth was a large one, the greatest diagonal length
being 14.5 inches (368 mm.). It had been worn back quite to the rear,
the trituration having affected 15 ridge-plates. This worn face measured
9 inches (228 mm.). Harlan stated that on this grinding-face 5 inches
was occupied by 6 enamel plates and 7 plates of cement. An estimate
shows that a 100–mm. line would cross 5 of the ridge-plates. Had this
tooth possessed the number (24) of ridge-plates usually found in _E.
columbi_, its length would have been 20 inches or more.
FLORIDA.
(Maps 14, 15.)
1. _Dunnellon, Marion County._—In the collection of the Florida
Geological Survey (Nos. 2233, 2234) are two fragments of teeth of an
elephant dredged from Withlacoochee River at Dunnellon, presented by Mr.
F. J. Titcomb. The teeth are regarded by the writer as being lower last
molars, although the plates run nearly directly across the
grinding-surfaces. They may belong to one individual. No. 2233 presents
six plates; five of these occupy a line 100 mm. in length. They are much
bent as they ascend, so that their hinder faces are very concave. The
enamel is moderately thick.
The tooth (No. 2234) has been figured by Dr. Sellards of the natural
size (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 85, fig. 12). As shown by
that figure, the ridge-plates of the rear portion have a thickness of 25
mm. or even more. Taken all together there are hardly 5 in 100 mm. If
that tooth had belonged to _Elephas columbi_ and had had 24 plates, the
length would have been about 25 inches, which is hardly to be supposed.
2. _Vero, St. Lucie County._—In the eighth Annual Report of the
Geological Survey of Florida, Dr. E. H. Sellards described and figured
(p. 150, plate XXV, fig. 1) a lower jaw of an elephant which had been
found near Vero. He referred it to _Elephas columbi_, but noted the
coarseness of the plates and its resemblance to _E. imperator_. The
specimen was found 3 miles west of Vero, along the bank of the drainage
canal. It was embedded in a matrix of brown sand, a stratum of which
rests on the marine shell-marl which underlies that region. It is
evident that a number of plates are missing from the front and that the
tooth is the hindermost one. If the jaw had belonged to _E. columbi_
with 24 plates, the length of the teeth would have been about 440 mm. In
case the tooth is that of _E. imperator_, there were probably about six
more plates in front originally and the tooth had a length of about 330
mm. The width appears to be about 90 mm. In the collection at Amherst
College is a fragment of a lower right molar, probably the hindermost,
of this species. Six plates are represented. It is well worn down, with
a very concave grinding-surface. The plates are close to 25 mm. thick.
The exact place where the tooth was found is not mentioned on the label,
but it was somewhere about Vero.
3. _Labelle, Lee County._—In the report just cited (p. 112, fig. 46),
Sellards described briefly and illustrated a tooth he secured in
Caloosahatchee River in 1914. Notes taken by the writer are to the
effect that it was found on the north bank of the river, at the first
bend above Labelle, probably in Lee County and in township 43 south,
range 29 east.
The length of this tooth, as preserved, is 310 mm. from the base in
front to the rear of the talon. There are 12 ridge-plates present, but
evidently some are gone from the front. There are 5 of these plates in a
100–mm. line, taken at the middle of their height. Sellards’s statement
that his figure is one-fifth the natural size is evidently an error for
one-third.
If this tooth belonged to _E. columbi_ and had the usual number of
plates, 24, the length would have been near 600 mm., a size not
probable. If it belonged to _E. imperator_, as the writer thinks it did,
the original length was somewhere near 450 mm., a more reasonable, but
at the same time, an unusual dimension.
4. _Everglades._—In the American Museum of Natural History, New York
(No. 8068), is a part of a tooth once supposed to belong to the Indian
elephant and said to have been mentioned somewhere by the geologist J.
D. Dana as having been found in the Everglades. It appears to be well
fossilized. It is apparently the second true molar of the right side.
There are 12 plates, of which 5 occupy a line 100 mm. long. Some plates
are evidently missing from the front. The writer believes that this
tooth belongs to _Elephas imperator_.
5. _Arcadia, De Soto County._—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 189) is
a part of the left ramus of the lower jaw of an elephant recorded as
having been found on Peace Creek. This jaw was collected by J. Fras Le
Baron, and in a report made to Professor S. F. Baird in 1881, he
indicated that this fossil, with many others which he had sent to the
Smithsonian Institution, had been found somewhere along Peace Creek
between the mouth of Little Charlie Apopka Creek and tide-water, but the
place is no more exactly designated; in any case not many miles away
from Arcadia. It, with other Pleistocene fossils, was found in gravel
overlying a soft yellow limestone about 4.5 feet thick.
The jaw has been described and figured by Leidy (Trans. Wagner Inst.,
vol. II, p. 23, plate VIII, fig. 2) as _Elephas columbi_. He stated that
eight of the ridges occupy a space of 6.4 inches. His estimate was,
however, made near the grinding-surface of the tooth, where the plates
converge. The writer has removed the bone and some of the cement from
the inner face of the tooth, so as better to expose the edges of the
plates. It is found that four of the enamel plates, with the
corresponding cement plates, occupy 100 mm. The plates are too coarse
for the tooth to be that of _Elephas columbi_. The length of the tooth,
in a straight line along the base, is 260 mm. Had the tooth originally
had 22 plates, a moderate number for _E. columbi_, the total length
would have been 500 mm. or more. Meanwhile, the width is only 85 mm.
There are now 12 plates left, and there were at first probably 18. The
original length was probably about 400 mm. or less. Leidy thought that
the 12 plates present represented the complete number entering into the
constitution of the tooth, but the exposure of the base of the tooth in
front shows that a number of plates had been worn out and lost.
The species of vertebrates found along Peace River in the vicinity of
Arcadia and their geological age are discussed on pages 380–381.
6. _Palmetto, Manatee County._—From Mr. J. C. Hennessy, of Palmetto, the
U. S. National Museum has received a part of a lower left hindermost
molar of _Elephas imperator_, found by him on January 10, 1917, on the
north shore of Manatee River, within the corporate limits of Palmetto.
The specimen presents seven ridge-plates and part of an eighth. Portions
of the tooth are missing from both ends. The distance across five plates
is 106 mm. The width across the worn face is 100 mm., the height of the
hindermost plate present 150 mm. The enamel is strongly plicated. The
tooth certainly belongs to _Elephas imperator_. The whole length of the
tooth in its complete state was about 360 mm. Had it belonged to _E.
columbi_, with 24 plates, the length would have been about 480 mm. (19
inches).
ALABAMA.
(Map 14.)
1. _Bogue Chitto, Dallas County._—In the U. S. National Museum is a
lower left molar which belongs to this species. It was collected by
Lawrence Johnson, of the U. S. Geological Survey. It is worn down to the
base in front and some plates have thus disappeared. Parts of seven
plates and the hinder talon remain. The width of the grinding-face is 90
mm. At the third plate from the rear the height of the crown is 97 mm.
The hinder border of the tooth is obtusely keeled and there are no
indications that there was another tooth behind it. It seems necessary,
therefore, to regard it as the hindermost molar. The large hinder root
was developed, but hollow to contain the pulp. The anterior root is
entirely missing. The plates of the crown turn backward strongly. Of
these plates there are on the inner face of the tooth hardly four in a
100–mm. line; on the outer face, only four. The enamel is rather
strongly folded and of moderate thickness.
With this tooth there came from the same place a molar of _Equus leidyi_
and some fragments of teeth of _Mammut americanum_. The writer believes
that these species show the presence, along Bogue Chitto, of Pleistocene
deposits of about Aftonian age.
2. “_Near Gulf of Mexico._”—J. C. Warren, in the second edition of his
work, “The _Mastodon giganteus_ of North America,” 1855, page 162, plate
XXVIII, figure A, described and figured a part of a large upper molar,
probably the hindermost, of an elephant which, as the writer believes,
belongs to _Elephas imperator_. Warren stated merely that this tooth had
been found in Alabama, near the Gulf of Mexico. He regarded the tooth as
belonging to _Elephas primigenius_ and representing a form with
extremely thick plates. Falconer (Palæont. Mem., vol. I, p. 227)
described the tooth with somewhat more accuracy than did Warren,
although he had only a cast of the tooth. He stated that the specimen
presented the middle portion of an enormous last upper molar of the
right side. This tooth had lost part of the front by wear and the rear
by fracture. There were preserved eight complete ridges and a half of
another in front. Falconer said that it bore a close resemblance to the
Bollaert tooth found at San Filipe, in Texas, a tooth described in The
Geologist, of London, in 1861, 1862, volumes IV and V. He gave the
length of the fragment, measured at the base, as 7 inches; the length of
the eight hinder ridges, at the base, 6.6 inches; the width of the crown
at the third ridge, 4.6 inches; the greatest width behind, 4.9 inches;
the height of the last ridge, 8 inches. The average thickness of the
plates, including the cement, was 0.8 inch. Warren’s figure shows that
the enamel is well crimped. Falconer referred the tooth, with some
doubt, to _Elephas columbi_, but he was not well acquainted with _E.
imperator_. The present writer believes that the tooth belongs to the
last species named. It is now in the American Museum of Natural History,
New York. The width of the grinding-surface is 110 mm. There are 5
plates in a 100–mm. line. The plates are not curved. The enamel is thick
and festooned.
FINDS OF ELEPHANTS OF UNDETERMINED SPECIES IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.
The rather numerous specimens of elephants here described are those
whose specific identity can not at present be determined. Often the
discovery of elephant remains, especially of teeth, has been reported
without any attempt at description or identification; or they may have
been referred to _Elephas primigenius_ at a time when no specific
distinctions were recognized among our elephants. In probably most cases
the specimens reported have been lost. The great majority of them
belonged either to _Elephas primigenius_ or to _E. columbi_. It has
seemed worth while to keep record of these unidentified specimens; for
equally with the others they show the presence of Pleistocene deposits.
UNGAVA.