1–3), Dr. G. M. Allen presented an account of the discovery of a maxilla
containing the penultimate and the hindermost milk teeth of a calf of
_Bison bison_, at Orleans, Cape Cod. This specimen had been collected
about 20 years previously by Dr. A. W. Grabau and presented by him to
the Boston Society of Natural History. The bone and teeth were found
“wholly embedded in till about halfway up on a section of a glacial
moraine, situated on Town Cove and about 70 or 80 feet high.” With the
specimen were associated many fragments of the shells of the mollusk
_Venus_. Dr. Allen suggested that this bison calf had either come to its
end while wandering on the moraine or had more likely lived and died
during the preceding Peoria interglacial stage. It might be questioned
whether bones which had been buried and thereby become softened would
have endured the rough treatment of a glacial mill.
NEW YORK.
(Map 27.)
1. _Albany, Albany County._—Dr. John M. Clarke, State geologist of New
York, sent the writer some teeth of a species of _Bison_, probably _B.
bison_, for which he gives the assurance that they were found somewhere
in the vicinity of Albany, and in the “Albany clays.” These clays are
supposed to belong to the Champlain stage. While this is somewhat
further east than the bison has extended within historical times, it is
entirely reasonable to suppose that at some time in the not distant past
its range went to the Hudson. Indeed, Dr. G. M. Allen has recently shown
(Jour. Mamm., vol. I, pp. 161–164) that at some time during the late
Pleistocene a bison lived in the region of Cape Cod. The specimens sent
by Dr. Clarke must have occupied eastern New York late in the Wisconsin
stage.
2. _Syracuse, Onondaga County._—In 1890 (Amer. Naturalist, vol. XXIV, p.
953), Professor Lucien Underwood reported the discovery of a skull of a
bison in Syracuse, while a sewer was being excavated. Underwood stated
that it was found at a depth of 10 feet, in a black muck. Professor E.
D. Cope identified the skull as that of _Bison bison_. The present
writer, in 1914, examined the skull at Syracuse University. He also
talked with Mr. John Cunningham, who bought the skull from the finder, a
laborer, paying him one dollar. Mr. Cunningham stated that he went to
the spot and measured the depth from the surface, and found it to be 17
feet. Above the muck that inclosed the skull was what he regarded as
clay. Dr. Burnett Smith has examined the deposits in a cellar dug within
a few rods of the spot where the skull was found. The upper 7 or 8 feet
was a mixture of shells and clay, and had been used to make a kind of
cement. This discovery appears to make it certain that the bison lived
in New York shortly after the Wisconsin ice had retired from the Finger
Lake region.
3. _Jamestown, Chautauqua County._—In the American Journal of Science,
volume XXVII, 1835, page 166, is an account, by Knight, of the
discovery, at Jamestown, of what were probably two teeth of a bison in a
fragment of the jaw. These were encountered by John Hazeltine, in
digging for a foundation of a building at the outlet of Chautauqua Lake,
and at a depth of 10 feet. The soil was mostly gravel, but the jaw was
said to have been lying in black muck. It was sent to Yale College, but
was not recognized as belonging to _Bison_. Reasons were suggested why
it did not belong to a young mastodon. The measurements given of the
teeth agree well with the upper molars of an American buffalo. Joseph
Leidy (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., vol. VII, 1869, p. 371) quoted
Knight’s account as indicating a buffalo. The discovery is interesting,
taken in connection with the finding of the specimen at Syracuse.
NEW JERSEY.
(Map 27.)
1. _Trenton, Mercer County._—Mr. Ernest Volk (Papers Peabody Mus., vol.
V, 1911, p. 209, plate CXX) reported the discovery of a part of a femur
of _Bison_ (probably _B. bison_) in the “yellow drift,” at Trenton, 2.5
feet from the surface. A first right upper molar, identified as that of
_Bison_, was found in another sand-pit at a depth of 9 feet (op. cit.,
p. 136). This appears to have belonged in the Trenton gravel, but at
that point the materials were apparently a mixture of sand and loam. The
reader is referred to page 304, where the geology of this locality is
described and a list of the species is given.
PENNSYLVANIA.
(Map 27.)
1. _Stroudsburg, Monroe County._—In Crystal Hill (Hartman’s) Cave, near
Stroudsburg, was found a lower jaw containing the last molar, as noted
by Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1880, p. 347; Ann. Rep. Geol.
Surv. Pennsylvania for 1887, p. 5). Mercer (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Phila., 1894, p. 98), mentions a tooth of the existing bison found in
Hartman’s Cave.
2. _Riegelsville, Bucks County._—From a cave near Riegelsville, was sent
to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, more than 70 years
ago, a collection of bones, reported on by Leidy in 1880 (Proc. Acad.
Nat. Sci., Phila., 1880, p. 349) and in 1889 (Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv.,
Pennsylvania, 1887, pp. 18–19). In the contribution of 1880, Leidy
included _Bison_ among the animals represented, but this is not included
in the list of 1887. Why this was omitted is not known. If _Bison_
occurred there, the probability is that it was represented by the
existing buffalo.
INDIANA.
(Map 27.)
1. _Jasper County._—The only record known to the writer of the finding
of buffalo bones worthy to be regarded as fossil is that of the former
State geologist, John Collett (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XII, p. 73),
who makes the statement that in Jasper County bones of the buffalo, the
beaver, and the bear are common.
ILLINOIS.
(Map 27.)
1. _Sullivan, Moultrie County._—In 1875 (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. VI,
p. 186), the geologist George C. Broadhead reported that he had found
the skull of a bison on the west bank of Kaskaskia River, about 3 miles
southeast of Sullivan, on the land of John Purvis. The locality appears,
therefore, to have been somewhere near the south half of the eastern
line of township 13 north, range 5 east. The summit of the bluff here is
described as rising about 25 feet above the stream. At the height of
about 8 feet was a bench approximately 10 feet wide, and the skull was
found on this bench, “a few feet from the top.” The surrounding clay was
described as being a rich black loam.
Broadhead stated that the skull measured 12 inches across the forehead
above the eyes and the same between the roots of the horns. The latter
were short, thick, and slightly curved. In the Transactions of the St.
Louis Academy of Science, volume III, page XXIII, practically the same
account is given of the discovery. Here Broadhead expressed the idea
that the skull belonged to _Bison latifrons_, and said that the horns
were short, thick, and curved upwards and forwards. It is not known
where the skull now is. To the writer it appears most probable that the
skull was that of _Bison bison_. There is nothing in the description to
indicate any of the other known species. As to the age of the deposits,
the presumption is reasonable that they belong to the Late Wisconsin or
Recent, for the locality is north of the Shelbyville moraine. It is
possible that the bench belongs to the Illinoian; but the nature of the
material, “a rich black loam,” seems to show that the bench is an
alluvial deposit laid down since Wisconsin times.
2. _Homer, Champaign County._—In the collection at the State University
of Illinois, at Champaign, are the horn-cores and the rear of the skull
of _Bison bison_, reported to have been thrown out of a ditch near
Homer. The writer is informed by Professor R. M. Bagg, of Appleton,
Wisconsin, that the specimen was found in excavating a ditch, at a depth
of 4 feet, according to the report made to him. Homer is situated on a
part of the Champaign moraine and the bison in question must be not
older than Late Wisconsin. If it was really found at a depth of 4 feet
it would seem to date well back in the Recent, if not into the
Pleistocene.
3. _Niantic, Macon County._—Professor A. H. Worthen reported (Geol.
Surv. Illinois, vol. V, p. 308) the presence of bones of the buffalo in
an old filled-up marsh near Niantic. The situation is more particularly
described on page 102. With the bison bones were found those of the
mastodon, the elk, and the Virginia deer. The bones of these animals are
said to have been found under 4 feet of black muck, partly embedded in a
light-gray quicksand filled with shells of _Planorbis_, _Cyclas_, and
_Physa_.
Inasmuch as Niantic is situated near the border of the Shelbyville
moraine, all these remains probably belong to Late Wisconsin times. It
would be useful to know whether the bones of the buffalo, the elk, and
the deer were found above those of the mastodons or mingled with them.
4. _East of Whitewillow, Kendall County._—In township 35 north, range 8
east, probably in section 27, on land owned by John Bamford, in clearing
out a well in a bog, have been found the bones of mastodons and other
species of vertebrates. For a description of the locality and the
species found there see page 337. Mr. George Langford, of Joliet, has
reported the occurrence of bones of the existing bison there and has
sent to the writer a maxilla which contained finely preserved teeth.
Unfortunately, no thorough and systematic examination of the place has
yet been made. All of the species and the deposit belong to the Late
Wisconsin, that part of it following the withdrawal of the ice. Mr.
George Langford informed the author that he found the bison and deer
bones mixed up more or less with the mastodon bones. At a depth of about
4 to 5 feet the owner of the place began to strike bones of the bison,
which appeared very fresh, retaining considerable animal matter. From
about 6 feet down to gravel, about 13 feet, mastodon and other bones
were literally packed together.
5. _Batavia, Kane County._—Dr. E. S. Riggs, of the Department of
Palæontology, Field Museum of Natural History, wrote to the author that
he had picked up some bison bones along a ditch in which mastodon bones
had been found; but the depth at which they had been met with could not
be determined. At the same time bones of the elk were found. Undoubtedly
the mastodon remains belong to Late Wisconsin times; and it is probable
that the bison and elk remains are to be referred to the same.
6. _Galena, Jo Daviess County._—In the collection of the Academy of
Natural Science of Philadelphia is a lower hindermost molar collected in
a lead crevice somewhere near Galena. It was presented to the Academy by
Mr. Henry Green, of Elizabeth, a town near Galena. This, with a
metacarpal bone of _Megalonyx jeffersonii_, had been found at a depth of
130 feet from the surface. It was described and figured by Leidy
(Contributions to Extinct Vert. Fauna, etc., 1873, p. 255, plate XXXVII,
fig. 4). Leidy thought that it might have belonged to _Bison bison_, but
not improbably to _B. latifrons_. J. A. Allen (The American Bisons,
etc., p. 13) concluded that it belonged undoubtedly to the existing
American species. The structure of the tooth will apparently not decide
this matter. It is probable that most of the animals found in those lead
crevices belong to pre-Wisconsin times; and the tooth in question may
belong to an extinct species. A list of the species found in the lead
region of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin is to be found on page 343.
7. _Mitchell, Madison County._—In “Records of Ancient Races in the
Mississippi Valley” (1887), William McAdams, of Alton, Illinois, stated
that in a large mound, square in shape, 300 feet on each side and 30
feet high, through which the railroads pass in the American bottom, at
Mitchell, had been found, in contact with a number of copper implements
and ornaments, a number of teeth of the buffalo. These McAdams had in
his possession. While these teeth can not be regarded at all as
belonging to Pleistocene times, the fact is of interest in connection
with McAdams’s statement that in all his explorations during a period of
more than 30 years, in no other case had he been able to find any
evidences of the buffalo associated with the remains of the ancient
people of this country. In this connection may be considered Shaler’s
views on the modern coming of the buffalo east of the Mississippi River.
On the other hand, account must be taken of the finding of a skull of a
buffalo deep in lake deposits at Syracuse, New York.
WISCONSIN.
(Map 27.)
1. _Bluemounds, Dane County._—In his report, made in 1862, on the
geology of the lead region of Wisconsin (Geol. Surv. Wisconsin, vol. I,
p. 136), J. D. Whitney recorded the finding of bison bones in a crevice
at Bluemounds. From the same crevice were obtained bones and teeth of
the mastodon and of a peccary, and bones of a wolf. It was supposed that
these remains were found at a depth of about 40 feet and embedded in the
red clay commonly found in such crevices. These bones were put into the
hands of Jeffries Wyman for identification, who, on page 421, stated
that the bison bones were all of the size of the same parts of the
existing buffalo and closely resembled them. J. A. Allen (Amer. Jour.
Sci., vol. XI, 1876, p. 47), in referring probably to the same bones,
speaks of “an extinct bison,” without, however, giving any reasons for
his conclusion. It is nevertheless possible that he was correct.
The writer formerly believed that the fossil vertebrates, collected in
the fissures in the lead region, had lived after the close of the
Wisconsin glacial stage. It seems now more probable that they belong to
a pre-Wisconsin time.
2. _Oshkosh, Winnebago County._—The writer has received from Dr. S.
Weidman, State geologist of Wisconsin, a humerus, found in a marsh near
Oshkosh, quite evidently that of _Bison bison_. Although stained by iron
on the outside, the remainder of the bone is white and full of animal
matter. The animal may have lived during the Recent period.
KENTUCKY.
(Map 27.)
1. _Bigbone Lick, Boone County._—Great numbers of individuals of _Bison
bison_ have been found at Bigbone Lick. Cooper (Monthly Amer. Jour.
Geol., vol. I, pp. 207, 211) reported numerous bones of buffaloes and
even an entire skeleton, but they appear to have been near the surface
or even on it. Lyell (“Travels in North America,” Murray’s ed., vol. II,
p. 65) stated that he had seen great quantities of remains of the bison
in a superficial stratum in the river bank; but he was left in doubt
whether or not the animals had been contemporaneous with the mastodon.
Shaler (Geol. Surv. Kentucky, n. s., vol. III, p. 197) found abundant
remains of the buffalo at this place; but the bones were not found at
any great depth, except in the bog about the spring. He regarded it as
proven that the musk-ox and the caribou did not come into contact with
the recent buffalo, but were extinct before it came. Some of the bison
materials collected by Shaler were described by Dr. J. A. Allen, in 1876
(Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. IV; Mem. Geol. Surv. Kentucky, vol. I, pt.
2). It may be difficult to prove that any of the bison bones and teeth
found here are of Pleistocene age; but there appears to be no good
reason why this species might not have reached that region at the close
of the Wisconsin ice-stage. A list of the species of mammals found here
is given on page 403.
2. _Bluelick Springs, Nicholas County._—In the mass of materials
collected in the spring at Bluelick Springs by Mr. Thomas W. Hunter,
were skulls and parts thereof, teeth, limb-bones, and vertebræ. The
actual geological age of these remains can not be established; but they
were of probably late Wisconsin age.
FINDS OF CASTOROIDES IN PLEISTOCENE OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.
NEW YORK.
(Map 28.)
1. _Clyde, Wayne County._—A skull of the giant beaver was found, about
the year 1846, near Clyde, on the farm of Gen. W. H. Adams. The locality
and the geological conditions were described by James Hall (Proc. Boston
Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. II, 1846, p. 167; Boston Jour. Nat. Hist., vol. V,
p. 385). The region is on the divide between the streams flowing north
into Lake Erie and those flowing southward into Clyde River. The actual
spot was at the head of a shallow stream which flows into Lake Ontario.
At this point the Sodus Canal was cut and ran in a north-and-south
direction. The farm was only partly swampy. Hall’s section is as follows
from above downward:
1. Vegetable soil, 2 feet or more.
2. Fine sand, with some alternating layers of clay, containing twigs,
leaves, etc., 2 to 3 feet.
3. Muck, or peaty soil, with decayed wood, bark, leaves, and even
trunks of large trees, about 4 feet.
4. Fine sand, with fresh-water shells, 2 to 3 feet.
5. Drift, with boulders; depth unknown.
The skull was found at the bottom of No. 3, at a depth of 8 feet. It is
evident that this animal lived here near, or after, the close of the
Wisconsin stage, and after the old Lake Iroquois had withdrawn from the
region.
2. _Canastota, Madison County._—In 1914, Dr. Burnett Smith, of Syracuse
University, reported (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XXXVIII, p. 463) the
discovery, at this place, of an incisor tooth of the giant beaver. The
exact locality is given as about 225 paces northwest from the southeast
line of lot 10, town of Lenox, on Cowaselon Creek, otherwise known as
the “State ditch.” The tooth was found at a depth of 9 feet, in a sticky
blue clay, containing a few fresh-water shells. Just above this, at a
depth of 7 feet, is a layer made up principally of shells, with some
vegetable matter. This animal could not have lived here until after the
withdrawal of Lake Iroquois, and therefore not till near the close of
the Wisconsin stage.
PENNSYLVANIA.
(Map 28.)
1. _Stroudsburg, Monroe County._—In 1889, Dr. Joseph Leidy reported
(Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Pennsylvania, 1887, p. 14, plate II, figs. 7–20)
the discovery of teeth of _Castoroides ohioensis_ in Hartman’s (or
Crystal Hill) Cave, about 3 miles southwest of Stroudsburg and 5 miles
from Delaware Water Gap. Its elevation is about 800 feet above the level
of Delaware River. The species associated with this giant beaver will be
listed on page 309. The parts figured by Leidy are a portion of a
palate, with the molars and some of the premolars, and both rami of the
lower jaw, showing the three temporary molars and the first true molars,
with some incisors and the permanent canines.
OHIO.
(Maps 28, 29, 36.)
1. _Nashport, Muskingum County._—In 1836 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 3, vol.
XXXI, pp. 79–83), S. P. Hildreth, in an unsigned article, gave an
account of the finding of remains of the type specimen of the giant
beaver, in association with remains of mastodon and of a supposed fossil
sheep, at a point 2 miles north of Nashport. A canal, now abandoned, was
being constructed, which followed two small streams, one of which flowed
into Licking River, the other into Wakitomika Creek. The land traversed
was flat and swampy. The distance from Nashport to Wakitomika Creek is
nearly 4 miles, so that in saying that the spot was on this creek
Hildreth spoke in general terms. The bones of the mastodon and the right
halves of the lower jaws of two giant beavers were found resting on a
bed of gravel at a depth of 14 feet. Foster (2d Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv.
Ohio, 1838, p. 80) stated that a molar and a tusk of an elephant had
also been found here. Hildreth concluded that the jaws and teeth were
perhaps those of an animal of the beaver family; “or, from the grooved
outer surfaces of the incisors, a marine animal of the walrus or seal
race, and a borderer of the ancient ocean.” It was afterwards described
by J. W. Foster (2d Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Ohio, 1837, p. 80, figs.)
under the name of _Castoroides ohioensis_. The remains described
consisted of the front end of one side of a lower jaw with its incisor,
an upper incisor, and a radius. They showed signs of some attrition; but
in a region like that they could not have been transported any
considerable distance.
In the mud in which the canal at this point was cut, there were found
three skulls of a species of sheep, which Hildreth thought were
different from those of the domestic sheep and to which he gave the name
of _Ovis mamillaris_. They are said to have been discovered at a depth
of 8 feet. It seems quite possible that they had been lying on or near
the surface and had made their way to the side of the canal by the flow
of the mud, which gave much trouble by filling up the canal during the
night. Most, if not all, of the differences thought to separate these
skulls from the domestic sheep disappear on comparison. The specimens of
both _Castoroides_ and of the sheep have probably been lost. They appear
not to be at Zanesville. On page 82 of the article above cited, Hildreth
stated that he had received, from some point on Wills Creek, a portion
of a tooth similar to the one found at Nashport; the place was said to
be about 40 miles east, apparently, of Zanesville. This would seem to be
in Noble County. The tooth was described as being embedded in
dark-colored carbonate of lime and as having fallen from a calcareous
rock which lies near the tops of the hills, 150 feet above the bed of
the creek. It is very probable that this was not a tooth of
_Castoroides_. It may have been the spine of a palæozoic shark.
2. _Wilmington, Clinton County._—From Professor W. C. Mills, of the Ohio
State University, the writer in 1913 obtained information that a fine
skull of _Castoroides_, without the lower jaw, had been found on the
farm of Mr. J. M. Richardson, on the western border of Wilmington.
Nothing more has been learned about the discovery. The locality is north
of the Hartwell moraine, and the animal must have lived there after the
withdrawal of the ice-sheet from that region.
3. _Germantown, Montgomery County._—One mile east of Germantown, Edward
Orton, State geologist of Ohio, found along Twin Creek a large tooth
which (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 2, vol. L, 1870, p. 54) he compared with
the tusk of a hog. It was later identified by J. S. Newberry (Proc. Lyc.
Nat. Hist. New York, vol. I, 1870, p. 83) as belonging to _Castoroides_.
It was found in a bed of peat which is overlain by from 50 to 100 feet
of glacial drift. One might conclude that the animal had lived there at
some time between the Illinoian and Wisconsin stages. However, opinions
have differed.
The geology along Twin Creek has been studied by Orton, Wright, and
Leverett. The last named published his views in 1902 (Monogr. U. S.
Geol. Surv., XLI, pp. 363–365, plate XIV, fig. 1). He states (p. 365)
that there seem to be good reasons for believing that the peat-bed
indicates the lapse of a considerable interval of deglaciation. Whether
the interval preceded or followed the formation of the early Wisconsin
moraine is yet to be determined. That seems to mean that the interval
may be mid-Wisconsin or pre-Wisconsin. Wright thought that but a few
hundred years had elapsed between the deposit of the till below the peat
and that above. Orton’s description of the locality was published in
1870 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 2, vol. L, p. 54).
4. _West Sonora, Preble County._—In 1893 (Amer. Geologist, vol. XII, p.
73), Professor Joseph Moore reported that a fragment of an upper incisor
of _Castoroides_ had been found at West Sonora. It was associated with
remains of a mastodon. West Sonora is on the Englewood moraine.
5. _Greenville, Darke County._—In 1883 (Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol.
VI, p. 238), F. W. Langdon described a tooth of _Castoroides_, found at
a depth of 4 feet, in a swampy locality near Greenville. In 1893 (Amer.
Geol., vol. XII, p. 73), Joseph Moore stated that this tooth belonged to
Dr. J. W. Jay, of Richmond. It may now possibly be in the collection of
Earlham College. Moore said that it had been found associated with
mastodon.
In the public library at Greenville is a fragment of an upper incisor of
_Castoroides_, found in making a ditch along Bridge Creek, in 1889, by
Mr. Leo Katzenberger, who writes that the place is in the northwest
corner of section 1, township 11, range 2 west, 1.5 miles southwest of
Greenville. These animals likewise lived on or near the Sidney moraine.