found in that region as belonging mostly to the Late Wisconsin; but it
now appears possible they lived during a pre-Wisconsin time.
7. _Beecher, Will County._—Mr. George Langford, of Joliet, Illinois, an
intelligent collector of the fossils of that region, informed the author
that he obtained an antler of the _Cervus canadensis_ at a place along
Trim Creek, about 3 miles north of east of Beecher. The fragment
included the base and two tines. The exact locality and the geological
conditions are discussed on page 107. Mr. Langford reported that the
antlers were above the mastodon bones. At the same place was found a
fragment of an antler of _Cervalces_. All these species belonged
probably to very late Pleistocene time.
WISCONSIN.
(Map 23.)
1. _Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County._—In the Public Museum of Milwaukee are
parts of both antlers of an elk found at Miller’s brewery, in Wauwatosa,
at a depth of 4 feet.
Wauwatosa is a suburb west of Milwaukee, on the Menomonie River,
situated principally on one of the moraines laid down just before the
Wisconsin ice-sheet retired into Lake Michigan. The elk must have lived
there since that withdrawal of the ice. It is possible that the antlers
were found in marsh deposits of Recent age along the Menomonie River.
2. _Pewaukee, Waukesha County._—This town is situated about 20 miles
north of west of Milwaukee. In the Public Museum at Milwaukee is an
antler which was plowed up somewhere about Pewaukee by Stanley G.
Haskins and presented by him to the museum. Probably the antler belongs
to the Recent epoch.
3. _Whitehall, Trempealeau County._—From Dr. S. Weidman, State geologist
of Wisconsin, the writer received a tibia found near Whitehall and which
he identifies as belonging to _Cervus canadensis_. The following account
of the discovery has been furnished by Dr. Weidman:
“The gully (fig. 2) in which the tibia was found is eroded out of
stratified sand, containing fragments of local sandstone and cherts.
The stratified sand, with local small fragments of sandstone, is, of
course, pre-loessial in origin, but the erosion of the lower terrace
is post-loessial, and the gully is very recent. The tibia was taken
2 feet below the lower terrace, along the side of the gully about 5
or 6 feet deep at the lower end and 3 or 4 feet deep at the upper
end; length of gully 300 or 400 feet. The bone may possibly have
been inserted after the development of the lower terrace, but I
could see no indication of disturbance or change in the upper 2 feet
of the lower terrace further exposed by the gully at this point, the
upper 2 feet being essentially the same at this point as elsewhere
along the side of the gully. If the bone was deposited along with
the small fragments of sandstone in the stratified formation, the
fragments being usually flat, about 0.5 inch thick by 1 to 2 inches
wide, then the bone is evidently pre-loessial in age. I am inclined
to think the bone was deposited with the sandstone fragments during
the process of the filling up of the valley with the stratified
surface, long before the loess was deposited in the region, rather
than after the loess and the lower terrace was formed.”
[Illustration:
FIG. 2.—Diagrammatic section of gully near Whitehall, Wisconsin,
showing place of burial of elk bone.
]
According to this account the specimen belonged to the Peorian stage or
an earlier one.
MARYLAND.
(Map 23.)
1. _Oxford Neck, Talbot County._—In 1869 (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol.
XI, p. 178), Cope stated that a collection of vertebrate fossils had
been found on the farm of Lambert Kirby, in Oxford Neck, including parts
of antlers. These were not distinguishable from those of the elk and the
Virginia deer. They were placed in the Baltimore Academy of Natural
Sciences.
NORTH CAROLINA.
(Maps 23, 39.)
1. _On Neuse River, Pamlico County, 16 miles below Newbern._—On page
117, in discussing the occurrence of mastodons at this place, it is
stated that H. B. Croom had reported also the presence of elk remains. A
more competent witness was Richard Harlan, who included the elk in his
list of species (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XLIII, 1842, p. 143). The reader
is referred to page 358, where the locality and the species are further
considered.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
(Map 23.)
1. _Charleston, Charleston County._—Dr. Joseph Leidy does not seem to
mention the occurrence of the wapiti at Charleston. F. S. Holmes, in the
introduction to his work on Post-Pliocene fossils of South Carolina,
page 7, mentions the elk among the animals found in the Pleistocene beds
which still have living representatives.
In the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences, at Philadelphia,
are two teeth, labeled as from Ashley River and credited to Captain A.
H. Bowman. It is possible that Leidy did not mention them because he
regarded them as teeth of elk that lived within Recent times.
GEORGIA.
(Map 23.)
1. _Brunswick, Glynn County._—In a list of fossil vertebrates dredged,
probably, from the harbor at Brunswick, Gidley (Bull. No. 26, Geol.
Surv. Georgia, p. 436) announced the finding of some part, supposedly a
tooth, of a cervuline, “probably belonging to the genus _Cervus_.” That
_C. canadensis_ might have lived in that region during some part of the
Pleistocene is not at all improbable; that it lived there during the
time that _Megatherium_ existed we have not at present sufficient
evidence.
FLORIDA.
(Map 23.)
1. _Alafia River, Hillsboro County._—From the late Professor F. W.
Putnam the writer learned that he had obtained from Alafia River some
part of the elk. The present writer has not seen the specimen.
TENNESSEE.
(Figure 23.)
_Whitesburg, Hamblen County._—In a collection of fossil vertebrates
secured at Whitesburg and described by the writer in 1920 are some
fragments of teeth which were referred to _Cervus canadensis_ (Proc. U.
S. Nat. Mus., vol. LVIII, p. 92). A list of the species is presented on
page 395.
KENTUCKY.
(Map 23.)
1. _Bigbone Lick, Boone County._—In his report of 1831 on Bigbone Lick,
William Cooper (Monthly Amer. Jour. Geol., vol. I, p. 207) stated that
he had found remains of _Cervus canadensis_; but he did not appear to be
wholly certain of this. Shaler was likewise in doubt regarding the
presence of the elk (Geol. Surv. Kentucky, vol. III, n. s., p. 197).
Other authors have mentioned the elk as occurring here, but not in a
convincing way. Nevertheless, it is not at all improbable that this
species was represented here. The geology of this locality is considered
on pages 401 to 404 and a list of the species is presented.
2. _Bluelick Springs, Nicholas County._—In the collection of fossil
vertebrates secured by Mr. Thomas W. Hunter, living near Bluelick
Springs, were teeth, some bones, and fragments of antlers. This
collection had been secured in an attempt to clean out and restore the
failing springs. Whether or not these remains date back to the
Pleistocene is uncertain. They are reported to have been found above the
bones of the mastodon.
FINDS OF RANGIFER IN THE PLEISTOCENE OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.
GRINNELL LAND.
_Dumbbell Harbor._—In 1877 (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. XX, p.
488), Fielden published a paper on the post-Tertiary beds of Grinnell
Land and north Greenland. In 1878 (Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol.
XXXIV, p. 566), Fielden and De Rance presented a report on the same
subject.
At a station in latitude 82° 30′ N., in beds at an elevation of 400
feet, there were secured meager remains of _Ovibos moschatus_ and _Phoca
hispida_. At another station, in latitude 82° 25′, there were obtained
remains of _Rangifer tarandus_, _Ovibos moschatus_, and _Phoca barbata_.
The invertebrate fauna was found to be identical with that now existing
there. In case the beds are Pleistocene they are probably those of a
late stage.
ONTARIO.
(Map 24.)
1. _Toronto, York County._—In 1899 (Ottawa Naturalist, vol. XII, p.
195), Coleman stated that horns of the caribou were common in the
Carleton Bar, just west of Toronto. This bar belonged to the Iroquois
beach. In the same bar near York, east of Toronto, mammoth teeth had
been found. In 1904 (Jour. Geol., vol. XV, p. 366), the same writer
states that antlers are very common at Toronto Junction. This is
probably the same locality as that spoken of as Carleton Bar.
In 1901 (Jour. Geol., vol. IX, pp. 290, 298), Coleman wrote that a shed
horn of a caribou had been found at Taylor’s brickyard. This is nearly a
mile north of the Gerard street bridge in Toronto (Amer. Geologist, vol.
XIII, p. 87). It was in a blue peaty clay, in which were found also
unios and wood. This clay is about 4 feet 6 inches thick and near the
top of the warm-climate beds. Notwithstanding the presence of the antler
of a caribou, the stratum is assigned by Coleman to the warm-climate
beds, because of the character of the vegetation. At present the caribou
is not known to come nearer than 150 or 200 miles to Toronto.
VERMONT.
(Map 24.)
1. _Woodbury, Washington County._—In 1910 (Rep. Geol. Surv. Vermont, p.
7), Professor G. H. Perkins stated that there are in the State Cabinet
at Burlington a fully developed antler and a part of the upper jaw, with
five molars, of _Rangifer caribou_ found at Woodbury in a peat-bog at a
depth of 7 feet. Probably the animal lived at about the close of the
Pleistocene epoch. The species has not been known in the State since
historical times.
CONNECTICUT.
(Map 24.)
1. _New Haven, New Haven County._—In 1875 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 3,
vol. X), Professor J. D. Dana gave an account of the finding of a
humerus and a tibia of a reindeer in the Quinnipiac Valley, near New
Haven. The humerus was discovered in a bed of clay at a depth of 11
feet; the tibia at a depth of 7 feet. The two bones belonged to
different individuals. Marsh, as quoted by Dana, thought that the tibia
resembled more closely that of _Rangifer tarandus_ of Europe than it did
that of _R. caribou_, but that the humerus was more similar to that of
the caribou. Dana concluded that the clays had been laid down after the
glacier had retreated from the valley, but while it was yet near enough
to send down ice-floes. Woodworth (17th Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv., pt.
1, p. 978) was inclined to refer the clays to some pre-Wisconsin time.
NEW YORK.
(Map 24.)
1. _Ossining, Westchester County._—In 1859, Dr. Joseph Leidy (Proc.
Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. XI, p. 194) read a letter from Dr. G. J.
Fisher, of Ossining (then Sing Sing), in which was reported the finding
of an antler of a reindeer in that vicinity, in excavating a peat-bed, 6
feet from the surface. The peat-bed had an area of about an acre, was
surrounded by high ground, and looked as if it had been the site of an
ancient lake. It is to be regretted that the situation of the place was
not more accurately given.
Woodworth (Bull. 84, New York State Mus., 1905, p. 187) remarked that he
did not know the circumstances under which the reindeer remains had been
found; but its occurrence there was consonant with his views of the
non-submergence of the lower Hudson valley. On the other hand, there
appears to be no good reason why the caribou might not have occupied
that region step by step as the glacier retired, and have remained there
long enough for its bones to become buried in mucks overlying the
deposits laid down in the Hudson while it was at sea-level.
2. _Racket River, St. Lawrence County._—In 1869 (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Phila., vol. VII, p. 377), Leidy mentioned the occurrence of caribou
(“_Cervus tarandus_”) remains at Racket River, basing his statement on a
remark of S. L. Mitchill (Cat. Organ. Remains, 1826, p. 26). On the same
page Leidy referred to Mitchill’s skull of the elk found at Racket
River, and to De Kay’s figure of it. In De Kay’s description (Zool. N.
Y. Mamm., p. 120) of the skull he stated that it bore a label in
Mitchill’s handwriting purporting that the skull belonged to the
reindeer. It looks, therefore, very much as if the crediting of the
caribou to this locality is due to an error of identification on the
part of Mitchill; on the other hand, it is barely possible that Mitchill
had remains of both animals from the locality.
NEW JERSEY.
(Map 24.)
1. _Vincentown, Burlington County._—In 1869 (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Phila., vol. VII, p. 377, plate XXVIII, fig. 9), Leidy described and
figured a part of an antler of a reindeer found at Vincentown. It was
discovered 4 feet from the surface in soil overlying greensand.
According to Lewis and Kümmel’s geological map, the region about
Vincentown is occupied by Cape May deposits resting on Manasquan marl,
of Cretaceous age. It may be supposed, therefore, that this reindeer was
in that region during the prevalence of the Wisconsin glacial stage
(Geol. Surv. New Jersey, vol. VIII, p. 183). This antler is peculiar in
having no brow-tine, in having the bez-tine placed at an unusual height,
6 inches above the base, and in having no tine arise from the rear of
the shaft up to a height of about 2 feet from the base. Where the
last-mentioned tine might be expected is simply a sharp ridge. Leidy
thought that the antler resembled more closely that of the barren-ground
reindeer than that of the woodland reindeer. It may, however, belong to
a distinct but as yet unnamed species.
2. _Trenton, Mercer County._—In 1884 (17th Ann. Rep. Peabody Mus.,
Harvard Univ., for 1883, p. 372), Professor F. W. Putnam reported as
follows on a fragment of antler of _Rangifer_ found at Trenton by Dr. C.
C. Abbott: “A piece of worked antler, probably a handle to a stone
knife, from the gravel in the railroad cut where the human tooth (No.
27798) was found. Collected and presented by Dr. C. C. Abbott.”
This specimen is mentioned by Mr. S. N. Rhoads (Mamm. of Pennsylvania
and New Jersey, 1903, p. 241) as belonging to _Rangifer grœnlandicus_.
From Dr. C. C. Willoughby, director of Peabody Museum, the writer learns
that this part of an antler is yet in that museum. He writes that it has
been a handle for apparently a steel knife and that he sees nothing
whatever about the specimen to indicate a prehistoric origin. It may, he
thinks, have been washed out of some recent Indian grave. In a personal
letter to Mr. S. N. Rhoads, Professor Putnam wrote that the fragment had
been identified by Dr. J. A. Allen as belonging to _Rangifer_. In 1883
(Jour. Franklin Inst., vol. CXV, pp. 366, 374), H. C. Lewis stated on
the authority of Dr. C. C. Abbott that remains of _Rangifer_ had been
discovered in the Trenton gravels.
PENNSYLVANIA.
(Map 24.)
1. _Stroudsburg, Monroe County._—In Crystal Hill (Hartman’s) Cave, near
Stroudsburg, there was found, many years ago, bones and teeth of what
Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1880, p. 347) called _Rangifer
caribou_. In 1889 (Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Pennsylvania for 1887, p. 5)
the remains are spoken of as fragments of jaws and teeth.
2. _Riegelsville, Bucks County._—In his earliest mention of remains
found in Durham Cave, near Riegelsville, Leidy included the woodland
caribou (_Rangifer caribou_). In his list published in 1889 (Ann. Rep.
Geol. Surv. Pennsylvania for 1887, p. 18) this species is not included,
but the writer does not know why it was not.
ILLINOIS.
(Map 24.)
1. _Alton, Madison County._—In the collection of fossils made in the
region about Alton by William McAdams, a list of which will be given on
page 339, is a single upper right molar, the first or second, which
belongs to this genus. The tooth has McAdams’s No. 11. To the base of
the tooth a mass of very hard matrix adheres and a part of the
grinding-surface is covered by the same material. The tooth is likewise
somewhat shattered. The length of the tooth is 19 mm., the width across
the anterior lobe 13.5 mm.
From the materials at hand it is not possible to determine to what
species the tooth belonged. It is referred provisionally to _Rangifer
muscatinensis_. This tooth differs from other _Rangifer_ teeth observed
in having the front of the protocone, at its base, less fully rounded
out, and in that the mesostyle, on the inner face of the tooth, widens
more extensively as it approaches the base than in any other species
observed. Nevertheless, the width of the mesostyle varies in species and
individuals.
WISCONSIN.
(Map 24.)
1. _Menomonie, Dunn County._—From Professor S. Weidman, of the Wisconsin
Geological and Natural History Survey, the writer received a part of an
antler of a female or a young individual of some species of _Rangifer_.
Professor Weidman sends the information that this was obtained in a sand
formation just below the clays worked at Menomonie for brick. He regards
the brick-clays as being of Sangamon interglacial age. He states, too,
that a part of a leg-bone believed to belong to a mastodon had been
found in the clays; also bones of a fish, which have been identified by
Dr. Hussakof as the Mackinaw trout, _Cristivomer namaycush_ (Jour.
Geology, vol XXIV, pp. 685–689, figs. 1, 2).
Probably the caribou represented by this specimen lived in that region
at the beginning or at the close of some one of the glacial stages, when
the climate was yet severe. The supposed mastodon bone may have belonged
to _Elephas primigenius_. It is described on page 111.
At a later time Dr. Weidman sent the writer a large part of the beam of
an antler of a caribou which likewise had been found in the lacustrine
clay at Menomonie. It was met with in the red clay, near the top of the
lacustrine clay bed.
KENTUCKY.
(Map 24.)
1. _Bigbone Lick, Boone County._—The presence of reindeer bones at this
place appears first to have been mentioned by William Cooper (Monthly
Amer. Jour. Geol., vol. I, p. 207). He wrote that “antlers, jaws, and
other remains of _Cervus canadensis_, _C. virginianus_, _C. alces_, and
perhaps _C. tarandus_ are not very rare.” Shaler (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat.
Hist., vol. XIII, 1871, p. 167; Geol. Surv. Kentucky, n. s., vol. III,
p. 197) reported that antlers of the caribou had been found by him here.
A list of the species found at Bigbone Lick will be given on page 403.
FINDS OF MUSK-OXEN IN THE PLEISTOCENE OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.
GRINNELL LAND.
_Dumbbell Harbor._—In 1877 (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. XX, p.
488), H. W. Fielden presented a paper on the post-Tertiary beds of
Grinnell Land and north Greenland. He reported the discovery of a bone
and a tooth of _Ovibos moschatus_ and a bone of _Phoca hispida_ in
deposits at an elevation of 400 feet. This was in latitude 82° 30′ N. At
another station, in latitude 82° 25′, Fielden procured fossil remains of
_Rangifer tarandus_, _Ovibos moschatus_, and _Phoca barbata_. A report
to the same effect was presented by Fielden and De Rance in 1878 (Quart.
Jour. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. XXXIV, p. 566).
NEW JERSEY.
(Map 25.)
1. _Trenton, Mercer County._—In 1900 (Ann. Rep. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.
for 1899, p. 16), Professor F. W. Putnam stated that Mr. Ernest Volk, of
Trenton, had found in the Trenton gravels a part of the scapula of a
musk-ox, now at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. The
part present is that bearing the glenoid cavity. This report is
reprinted on pages 248 to 249 of Volk’s “Archæology of the Delaware
Valley” (Papers Peabody Mus., vol. V). On page 111 of this work, Mr.
Volk gives an account of the discovery of the bone, and illustrates it
by plates LXXXVI and LXXXVII. The bone was identified by Putnam,
Matthew, Allen, Boas, Lambe, True, and Lucas. Inasmuch as the comparison
must have been made with the scapulas of _Ovibos moschatus_, the fossil
probably belonged to this species.
PENNSYLVANIA.
(Map 25.)
1. _Pittston, Luzerne County._—In 1872 (Contrib. Ext. Fauna West.
Terrs., p. 255, plate XXVIII, fig. 8), Leidy briefly described and
figured a molar tooth which he referred to _Bison latifrons_. It had
been found along the bank of Susquehanna River at Pittston, associated
with the mastodon and a horse. Dr. J. A. Allen (Amer. Bisons, 1876, p.
12) expressed the opinion that the tooth belonged to some species of
_Ovibos_. The present writer agrees that the tooth is not that of
_Bison_. It seems to agree more nearly with teeth of _Symbos cavifrons_;
but it differs from the teeth of that species in some respects. The
writer has examined this tooth at the Academy of Natural Sciences at
Philadelphia. It is worn almost to the roots and is 34 mm. long and 32
mm. thick at the base of the hinder lobe. It agrees in form more closely
with the first molar of both _Ovibos_ and _Symbos_; but it is much
larger than the same tooth in _Ovibos moschatus_ and somewhat larger
than that of _Symbos cavifrons_. The inner face of the anterior lobe is
much more rounded than in _Symbos_, and the inner face of the hinder
lobe forms an angle with the hinder face, instead of rounding into it,
as it does in _Symbos cavifrons_. The teeth appear to have been packed
together more closely, on the lingual side, than in _Bison_, _Symbos_,
and _Ovibos_. The tooth is probably worthy of being given a new name.
Mr. S. W. Rhoads has examined this tooth and concluded that it belonged
to _Bison bison_. To this view it seems sufficient to say that in
_Bison_ teeth the outer face of each of the lobes is very convex and
column-like, while the parastyle and especially the mesostyle are
relatively small. In the Pittston tooth the mesostyle stands out beyond
the outer face of the hinder lobe, and the latter is nearly flat; this
is also the condition in _Symbos_. The writer will say further that the
accessory column is not always present in teeth of _Symbos_.
2. _Riegelsville, Bucks County._—Mr. Rhoads, as cited above, on pages
246 to 248, described a part of a horn-core of a bovine animal to which
he applied the name _Bison appalachicolus_. Later (Proc. Acad. Nat.
Sci., Phila., 1897, p. 492) he concluded that the horn-core had belonged
to an animal of the genus _Ovibos_; and accordingly it bears the name
_O. appalachicolus_. Leidy had in 1889 called attention to a collection
of bones made in Durham Cave, near Riegelsville (Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv.,
Pennsylvania, for 1887, pp. 18–19). He recorded 20 species, all of which
lived there or at most, not far away, when the country was discovered.
These may have all entered the cave at a later period, but the musk-ox
may have antedated the others. A list of these fossils is presented on
page 311.
OHIO.
(Map 25.)
1. _Urbana, Champaign County._—At Urbana, Ohio, in the possession of Mr.
Charles McDarg, the writer has seen a skull of _Symbos cavifrons_ which
had been found on the farm of Ed. Jennings, while a ditch was being dug.
It was buried in mud at a depth of 10 feet. This region is covered by
the Wisconsin drift, and the animal must have lived not long after the
ice had withdrawn from the neighborhood.
2. _Youngstown, Mahoning County._—In the geological collection of the
Ohio State University is a part of a skull of _Ovibos moschatus_ secured
at Youngstown. The specimen shows the base of the skull and the
forehead. Between the bases of the horns is a narrow channel,
characteristic of _Ovibos_. The specimen shows the effects of abrasion,
the horn-cores being worn down to their bases. The specimen is said to
have been found in gravel at a depth of 60 feet. It appears to have been
presented in 1890 by H. McGinnis. It is probable that this skull was
found along Mahoning River, but the elevation was, unfortunately, not
given. The probability is that the deposits inclosing the fossil were
laid down during the Wisconsin stage.
According to Leverett (Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., XLI, p. 149), the old
trough of Beaver River was filled with gravel during the Wisconsin
glacial stage, and this filling is now in process of excavation. The
same is probably true of its tributary, the Mahoning. If the skull was
buried in this gravel its age is thereby determined.