p. 16), Leidy stated that he had received, for inspection, from
Professor Samuel St. John, of Hudson, Ohio, a fragment of a skull, with
one horn-core attached, which had been found in Trumbull County. No
further details were given as to the locality or of the geological
conditions. The skull appeared to be much water-worn. It belongs to
_Symbos cavifrons_. Trumbull County is wholly occupied by Wisconsin
drift. The animal is, then, probably to be credited to the Late
Wisconsin. It is possible, however, that this skull was found in an
older deposit exposed in the valley of some stream.
MICHIGAN.
(Map 25.)
Up to the present time it appears that remains of musk-oxen have been
found in Michigan in only two localities, Manchester, Washtenaw County,
and near Moorland, in Muskegon County. These remains belonged to two
different genera, _Symbos_ and _Boötherium_.
1. _Manchester, Washtenaw County._—In No. 13 of the Occasional Papers of
the Museum of Zoology, pages 1–3, plates I, II, issued by the University
of Michigan, November 12, 1915, Dr. E. C. Case reported the finding of a
fine skull of _Symbos cavifrons_ at a place near Manchester. This was
given by Case as being about 3 miles northeast of Manchester, but Mr.
Schlicht, owner of the farm, has sent the writer a description and plat
of the section which show that the spot is situated about 0.5 mile
northwest of the town. It is near the center of the northwest quarter of
the northwest quarter of section 1, township 4 south, range 3 east. A
drain was being made in a swampy tract and the skull was found at a
depth of 4 feet, lying on a bed of clay. This was covered by a black
muck filled with plant remains and interrupted by a few thin layers of
fine gravel.
The skull was in fine condition, but lacked the lower jaw. The spade of
a workman struck the nose and injured the bones so that some parts were
lost. The teeth were almost perfectly preserved.
The locality which furnished this skull is in the valley of the Raisin
River. According to Leverett’s glacial map of Michigan (Monogr. U. S.
Geol. Surv., LIII, plate VII), this valley crosses, at this point, the
northern end of the Fort Wayne moraine. It is not improbable that this
musk-ox lived when the foot of the ice-sheet was not far removed. Even
in case the skull had gotten into a drainage channel it could not,
because of its fine state of preservation, have been moved far from
where the animal died. The circumstances appear to indicate that the
skull had been left on the clayey bottom of a shallow pond of a tundra
and become covered by the muck of a milder epoch.
2. _Moorland, Muskegon County._—In 1908 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol.
XXXIV, p. 683, plate LXXIX), J. W. Gidley described, as belonging to a
new species, _Boötherium sargenti_, a skull of a musk-ox found on the
farm of Mr. Charles McKay, reported to be near Grand Rapids. Further
inquiry showed that the farm is located near Moorland, in the northeast
quarter of section 16, township 10 north, range 14 west. The skull was
found in a marsh at a depth of 2 or 3 feet and lying beneath the pelvis
of a mastodon. It and the mastodon are now preserved in the Kent
Scientific Museum, at Grand Rapids, Michigan.
In 1915 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. XLVIII, p. 525, plate XXXI), the
writer redescribed the specimen. Dr. J. A. Allen, in 1913 (Mem. Amer.
Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. I, pp. 214, 215), referred to this skull and
concluded that it had belonged to the female of _Symbos cavifrons_. The
writer does not accept this opinion. He has examined more than 25 skulls
of _S. cavifrons_, some of which must have been females. In none did the
rough surfaces for the horns fail to meet at the midline as it does fail
in the Moorland specimen.
The Moorland marsh is surrounded by what Leverett has called the Lake
Border moraines. It is probable that this musk-ox existed there after,
but not long after, the ice had withdrawn into Lake Michigan. From what
is known about the habits of musk-oxen in general, we must conclude that
the climate was yet cold.
The fact that the mastodon remains were so closely associated with the
musk-ox skull does not prove that the animals lived there together. Near
Alma, in Gratiot County, the late Charles A. Davis found mastodon bones
in a peat-bog within a few inches of the surface. If by chance the
pelvis of a modern horse or cow had fallen on that spot, it might easily
have been pressed down into contact with those bones.
INDIANA.
(Map 25.)
1. _Wailesboro, Bartholomew County._—In the American Museum of Natural
History, New York, is a portion of a skull of a musk-ox which the writer
identifies as _Symbos cavifrons_. It is labeled as found along the East
Fork of White River, in 1904, near Wailesboro, Bartholomew County,
Indiana. This locality is about 45 miles east of south of Indianapolis.
The skull is reported to have been washed out of a bank composed of
alluvium which overlies from 10 to 20 feet of glacial gravel. It is also
said that out of the same gravel a tooth of _Elephas primigenius_ had
been secured. It seems to be implied that the musk-ox skull came from
the gravel; but the record is not clear. It was presented to the museum
in New York by Dr. J. J. Edwards, of Columbus, Indiana. He is said to
have been interested to some extent in collecting palæontological
materials. It is likely that he depended on others for his knowledge of
the origin of the skull.
The specimen presents the brain-case to the rear of the orbits,
including the basioccipital bone and the bases of the horn-cores. It has
been rolled somewhat and many ridges and processes have been eroded off.
Measurements were given by the writer in his paper on the “Pleistocene
Period in Indiana and its Vertebrata” (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXXVI,
pp. 638–639). Dr. J. A. Allen (Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. I, p.
201) has examined this skull and concluded that it is not specifically
determinable, but the writer, after re-examining the specimen, sees no
reason for changing his original conclusion.
This skull was found within the area of Illinoian drift; but the border
of the Wisconsin forms the high ground just east of the river. According
to Leverett’s glacial map of Indiana (Monogr. LII, U. S. Geol. Surv.,
plate VI), the valley of the river is filled with sands and gravels
resulting from glacial drainage, and this came mostly, if not all, from
the Wisconsin ice. Most probably the animal which possessed this skull
lived there at some time when the Wisconsin glacial ice was not far
away.
2. _Richmond, Wayne County._—In the collection at Earlham College,
Richmond, Indiana, is the brain-case of a skull identified as that of
_Ovibos moschatus_. This fragment was described and figured by the
writer in 1912 (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXXVI, p. 641, plate IX, fig.
2). The skull was unearthed by some workmen in the vicinity of Richmond
and put into the hands of Professor D. W. Dennis, who loaned it to the
writer. It is referred to _Ovibos moschatus_, the species now existing
in the Arctic region of North America. Possibly if we had more complete
remains specific differences might be found.
This animal probably lived in the region about Richmond at a time when
the Wisconsin moraine was yet lingering in Indiana and when the climate
was yet severe.
3. _Randolph County._—In the collection belonging to Earlham College is
the rear portion of the skull of a musk-ox, identified as belonging to
_Symbos cavifrons_. At what place in Randolph County it was found is not
known. It had been somewhat eroded and injured. Measurements
approximately correct were given by the writer in 1912 (Geol. Surv.
Indiana, vol. XXXVI, p. 638). We may suppose that the animal lived in
that region at some time during the last half of the Wisconsin stage.
4. _Beaver Lake, Newton County._—In 1870, F. H. Bradley (Geol. Surv.
Illinois, vol. IV, p. 229), reported that upon the bottom of Beaver
Lake, just east of the State line, since the lake had been partially
drained, skeletons of _Mastodon_ and _Boötherium_ had been found by Dr.
H. M. Keyzer, of Momence, Illinois, and others. Unfortunately, we do not
know what became of these valuable materials. Probably the
“_Boötherium_” was the animal now known as _Symbos cavifrons_, inasmuch
as it is far more abundant than any other species of musk-ox. If any
parts of the skeleton of this musk-ox were really found the loss is
great, inasmuch as very few bones have ever been discovered.
The time when the mastodon and the musk-ox lived about Beaver Lake must
have been after the withdrawal of the Wisconsin glacial sheet beyond
that region. For remarks on this locality see page 96. The name Beaver
Lake has disappeared from the maps, but it was in township 30 north,
range 9 west.
5. _Hebron, Porter County._—In the American Museum of Natural History is
a nearly complete skull of the musk-ox known as _Symbos cavifrons_,
collected about 6 miles east of Hebron. It was found by workmen while
making excavations for a railroad bridge. The exact location is given as
section 16, township 33 north, range 6 west, in the marshy lands just
north of Kankakee River. The depth was about 7 feet and the deposit was
described as a mixture of sand and clay. Doubtless the animal died near
the spot where its skull was found, inasmuch as this had undergone
little injury.
This skull was described and figured by the writer in 1912 (Geol. Surv.
Indiana, vol. XXXVI, pp. 635–638, figs. 49, 50) and in 1914 (Iowa Geol.
Surv., vol. XXIII, pp. 299–302, figs. 98, 99); also by Dr. J. A. Allen
(Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. I, p. 214, plates XVII, XVIII).
On Leverett’s glacial map of Indiana this region is represented as being
occupied by sand and gravel deposits resulting from glacial drainage.
The musk-ox must have lived after the foot of the glacier had withdrawn
nearly to the end of Lake Michigan.
ILLINOIS.
(Map 25.)
1. _Bondville, Champaign County._—In the collection of the University of
Illinois, at Champaign, is the rear portion of the skull with the
horn-cores of a specimen of _Symbos cavifrons_. It is reported as found
on the farm of John Busey, southwest of Champaign and 4 miles from
Bondville. Professor S. A. Forbes informed the writer that the locality
is in section 31, township 19 north, range 8 east. No details are known
regarding the conditions under which the skull was found. The region is
occupied by the Champaign moraine and it was after the retirement of the
ice from this moraine that the animal lived. It may, however, have been
not long after that time.
2. _Manito, Mason County._—Mr. John Wiedmer, of St. Louis, presented to
the U. S. National Museum (No. 7800) the rear half of the skull of a
specimen of _Symbos cavifrons_ found near Manito, at a depth of 5 feet,
by workmen who were cutting out peat. A tooth of a mastodon, _Mammut
americanum_, sent with the skull, is said to have been embedded in the
upper part of the sand which underlies the peat. The skull was reported
as found at about the same depth, but it was quite certainly not in the
sand.
The exact location of the skull was in section 22, township 23 north,
range 6 east, within the area of the Illinoian drift-sheet, but the
Wisconsin drift is not far away. The valley of the Illinois River in
this county is mapped by Leverett as occupied by sands and gravels of
Wisconsin age. Probably the animal lived when the Wisconsin ice-sheet
was not far distant.
The skull described apparently belonged to a rather small, perhaps not
fully grown individual. For purposes of comparison with other skulls, as
the one found at St. Louis, Missouri, and the one found at Hebron,
Indiana (p. 252), the following measurements have been taken of this
skull:
_mm._
From tip to tip of horn-cores 437
Height of rear of skull from bottom of condyles 168
Width across the mastoid region 183
Width between hinder ends of temporal fossæ 117
Width at space between bases of horn-cores and orbits 127
Width at the rear border of orbits 231
Length of rough surface of forehead, at midline 200
Fore-and-aft width of base of horn-core 98
Vertical thickness of base of horn-core 78
From front of foramen magnum to rear of nasal bones 260
The exostosis between the bases of the horn-cores is longitudinally
deeply excavated, the excavation being 50 mm. wide and 27 mm. deep. The
tips of the horn-cores come forward only even with the rear border of
the orbits. In some other cases the horn-cores come forward to the
front, or even in advance of the front border of the orbits. It is
possible that this Manito skull was that of a cow.
3. _Alton, Madison County._—In a collection of fossil mammals made at
Alton by William McAdams and now in the U. S. National Museum is a
single tooth, a lower left second molar, referred with some doubt to
_Symbos promptus_. The crown is 34 mm. long and 25 mm. wide at the base.
The tooth has been described briefly by the writer (Proc. U. S. Nat.
Mus., vol. LVIII, p. 115). A list of the species accompanying it will be
found on page 339.
WEST VIRGINIA.
(Map 25.)
1. _Mahan, Brooke County._—In 1902 (Science, n. s., vol. XVI, pp.
707–709, fig.), J. B. Hatcher reported the finding of a part of a skull
of _Symbos cavifrons_ at a point in Brooke County, somewhat over a mile
below Steubenville, Ohio. The locality is further defined as being the
sand-pit of the Steubenville Sand Company, on the Thomas Mahan farm, on
the east side of the Wheeling branch of the “Panhandle” Railroad. The
details regarding the locality were furnished by Mr. Sam Huston. The
sand-pit was located in the glacial terrace which rises about 70 feet
above low-water mark and from about 35 to 40 feet above high-water. The
river has never been known to rise as high as to the spot where the
skull was found. It had doubtless been brought down by the waters which
built up the terrace. These waters probably came from the Wisconsin
ice-sheet. The skull is now in the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburgh.
The interesting geology of this region is described on page 355.
MISSISSIPPI.
(Map 25.)
1. _Natchez._—The first notice of the occurrence of any species of the
Ovibovinæ at Natchez seems to be the inclusion of _Symbos (Boötherium)
cavifrons_ in Leidy’s list of fossil Mammalia found in the State of
Mississippi (Wailles’s Rep. Agric. Geol. Mississippi, 1854, p. 269), but
the locality is not mentioned. The occurrence of the species in the
State was not mentioned by Leidy in 1853 in his “Memoir on Extinct
Species of Fossil Ox” (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. V, art. 3).
Leidy’s list mentioned above was quoted by Hilgard in 1860 (Agric. Geol.
Mississippi, p. 196). In neither place was any statement made regarding
the part preserved. In his “Memoir on the Extinct Sloth Tribe of North
America,” published in 1855 (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. VII, art.
5, p. 6), Leidy stated that _Boötherium_ had been found at Natchez. Five
years later (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1870, p. 73) Leidy reported
that an isolated tooth, a last lower molar not yet protruded from the
jaw, had been received from Natchez and was preserved in the museum of
the Philadelphia Academy. On comparison with a last molar in a jaw of a
supposed _Ovibos cavifrons_ received at the Smithsonian Institution and
found near Woodbine, Iowa, Leidy concluded that the Natchez tooth
belonged to the same species. Probably he had already based on this
tooth the announcement of the presence of this species at Natchez. At
least, the writer knows of no other parts of _Symbos cavifrons_ found at
Natchez, and he has seen neither the tooth from Natchez nor the jaw from
Woodbine, Iowa.
Leidy stated that the tooth in question had a height of 2.25 inches, a
length antero-posteriorly of 2 inches.
KENTUCKY.
(Map 25.)
1. _Bigbone Lick, Boone County._—In his account of Bigbone Lick and the
collections made there (Monthly Amer. Jour. Geol., vol. I, pp. 158–174,
205–217), William Cooper included in his list of species both _Bos
bombifrons_ (_Boötherium bombifrons_) and _Bos pallasii_ (_Symbos
cavifrons_). Already in 1818 Wistar (Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., ser. 2,
vol. I, p. 379, plate XI, figs. 10, 11) had described, without
systematic name, the skull which later was made the type of _Bos
bombifrons_ by Harlan (Fauna Amer., p. 271). This skull was a part of
the collection made at Bigbone Lick by Governor William Clark for
President Thomas Jefferson. In the account presented by Cooper (p. 173)
he stated that in the Finnell (sometimes spelled Phinnell) collection,
made in 1830, he had found a second head of the species, but what became
of it is not known. Harlan, as cited (p. 272), stated that in the
collection of fossils made at Bigbone Lick by Major Long were teeth
which probably belonged to the musk-ox. They differed little from those
of the bison, but were thicker at the crown, more deeply grooved at the
sides, and altogether more robust. In 1870 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Phila., p. 97), Dr. Leidy mentioned that in the Museum of Comparative
Zoology, in Cambridge, he had seen a skull of _Symbos cavifrons_ which
Professor Shaler had collected at Bigbone Lick. The present writer has
seen this skull. A list of the species found at this locality is
recorded on page 403.
2. _Bluelick Springs?, Nicholas County._—In the collection at Yale
University is the hinder part of a skull of _Symbos cavifrons_, bought
in 1876 from Henry Ward, Rochester, and labeled as found in the Bluelick
region. The locality is not more definitely known.
3. _Winchester, Clark County._—In the U. S. National Museum is a part of
the rear of the skull of _Symbos cavifrons_ labeled as found at
Winchester. It is credited to J. W. Fitch. It shows well the condyles,
some of the base of the skull, and the base of the right horn-core.
Besides the remains above described a part of a cranium of _Symbos
cavifrons_ from Kentucky is preserved in the Boston Society of Natural
History. Leidy (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. V, art. 3, p. 16) stated
that it had been found in the alluvium of Kentucky River.
FINDS OF EXTINCT BISONS IN THE PLEISTOCENE OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.
ONTARIO.
(Map 26.)
1. _Toronto, York County._—Through the kindness of Professor B. A.
Bensley, of the University of Toronto, the writer has had the
opportunity to examine a malar bone of a bison found in the Don
interglacial beds at Toronto. It is slightly water-worn and the edges
are somewhat injured. The bone has been compared with the corresponding
one of a large specimen of _Bison bison_, No. 22374 of the U. S.
National Museum, and with a complete skull of _Bison alleni_ from
Alaska. The Toronto bone is about one-third larger than that of the
_Bison bison_ and about one-tenth larger than that of _B. alleni_. The
projecting outer plate, immediately below the orbit, narrows little if
any from behind forward, while in both the other species referred to it
becomes much narrower toward the front. The bone quite certainly
belonged to an extinct species, but without the horn-cores it is
impossible to determine to which one.
In 1901 (Jour. Geol., vol. IX, p. 301), Coleman stated that a large
atlas vertebra of a bison which he thought might belong to _B.
americanus_ had been found in interglacial beds in Toronto. It is more
probable, however, that it belonged to one of the extinct species. It is
uncertain whether the deposits belonged to the Don series or the
Scarboro.
The geology of this region is treated on pages 281 to 283.
PENNSYLVANIA.
(Map 26.)
1. _Pittston, Luzerne County._—In 1873 (Contrib. Ext. Fauna West.
Terrs., p. 255, plate XXVIII, fig. 8), Leidy described and figured a
tooth as that of _Bison latifrons_. This has been referred here to an
undetermined species of _Symbos_. In a paper on the distribution of the
American bison in Pennsylvania, Mr. S. N. Rhoads (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Phila., 1895, p. 245) concluded that this tooth belonged to the existing
bison. He stated also that the Academy had two other teeth, lower
molars, from the same place, which Leidy had labeled as “_Bison
americanus_” and regarded as more recent than the figured tooth. Rhoads
thought the identification correct, but that they belonged to the same
individual as did the tooth figured by Leidy. The writer has not seen
these lower teeth and admits them here only provisionally. They were
found along Susquehanna River, in association with remains of _Mammut
americanum_ and _Equus complicatus?_ (“_E. major_”). If any of the
bovine teeth belong to Bison the species belonged to early or middle
Pleistocene and is now extinct.
2. _Port Kennedy, Montgomery County._—The presence of Bison in the
famous cave at this place was announced by Wheatley in 1871 (Amer. Jour.
Sci., ser. 3, vol. I, p. 384). Cope, in his account of 1899 (Jour. Acad.
Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. XI), does not mention the genus; but Mercer, on
page 280 of the same volume, credits Wheatley with having found remains
of three individuals of one undetermined species. He used the generic
name _Bos_.
A description of the Port Kennedy Cave and its contents and remarks on
the geological age of the fossils will be given on pages 311 to 320.
OHIO.
(Map 26.)
1. _Fincastle, Brown County._—In 1887 (Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol.
X, p. 20), Horace P. Smith, curator of the society, described a fine
pair of horn-cores of _Bison latifrons_ found in Brown County and which
had come into the possession of the society. They were discovered at a
depth of 18 feet, in making excavations for the piers of a bridge across
Brush Creek. Inasmuch as nearly the whole of the course of this stream
is in Adams County, the locality must have been in the northeastern
corner of Brown County, near Fincastle, where the creek has its source,
and within the area of the Illinoian drift. Smith thought that the
horn-cores were in the drift; but, if so, the overlying materials must
have been washed down over them after their burial. It is improbable
that they were ever beneath or in the glacier. The animal probably lived
during the Sangamon interglacial stage; quite certainly before the
Wisconsin.
2. _North Fairfield, Huron County._—In the Norwalk Museum, at Norwalk,
are some skull-bones of a bison found at some point not known to the
writer, about 7 miles from North Fairfield, while search was being made
for bones of the megalonyx which belongs partly to the museum at
Norwalk, partly to the Niver family at North Fairfield. These bison
bones served as the type of _Bison sylvestris_, described by the writer
in 1915 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, vol. XLVIII, p. 515, plate XXX). This
is the only species of extinct bison known that lived after the close of
the Wisconsin stage.
INDIANA.
(Map 26.)
1. _Evansville, Vanderburg County._—Many years ago Dr. Leidy (Proc.
Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, pp. 199–200) described a collection of
mammalian remains made on the banks of Ohio River at the mouth of Pigeon
Creek, a short distance below Evansville. Among these materials was a
fragment of a cervical vertebra of a species of _Bison_, which Leidy
identified with doubt as _Bison americanus_, the existing bison, now
known as _Bison bison_. It would be impossible to determine to which of
our several species of the genus _Bison_ this bone belonged; but it
probably did not belong to B. bison. This species is not known from
times preceding the Wisconsin drift and the bone-bed at Pigeon Creek is
undoubtedly older. On page 32 is a discussion of the probable age of the
bone-bed. It may be as old as the Aftonian stage, but more probably it
belonged to the Sangamon.
The other species found at the locality named are _Megalonyx
jeffersonii_, the Virginia deer, the extinct horse known as _Equus
complicatus_, _Tapirus haysii_, and the extinct wolf _Ænocyon dirus_. At
Bigbone Lick, midway between Louisville and Cincinnati, on the Kentucky
side, have been found two extinct species of _Bison_, _B. antiquus_ and
_B. latifrons_. At the same place has been found _Equus complicatus_.
The beds there overlie the Illinoian drift and belong, in part at least,
to the Sangamon.