there along all the rivers, perhaps to the western border of the Coastal
Plain. This is indicated by the discovery of remains of horses and
mastodons in Darlington and Richland counties. The thickness of the
Pleistocene deposits along the coast is said to amount to as much as 60
feet, but it is usually much less. Only a part of this is fossiliferous,
a bed that appears to vary in thickness from about 3 to 8 feet. This is
found as much as 8 feet above mean-tide level, sometimes below it. The
materials of this fossiliferous bed vary greatly. Sometimes they consist
almost entirely of shells of mollusks, in other cases of a blue mud or
sand, and with these may be mingled peaty materials, gravel, and again
rolled masses derived from the underlying deposits. The fossils
contained in the bed mentioned consist of mollusks, and in some places
bones and teeth of vertebrates occur in more or less abundance. The bed
is underlain often by deposits of Tertiary age. Bones and teeth of the
vertebrates, as fishes and cetaceans, that lived when those Tertiary
rocks were being deposited may occasionally have been washed into the
Pleistocene bed. Again, where the older and the newer beds are exposed
along the shores, fossils may be washed out of both and commingled on
the beach; then again, a great part of the fossils collected along this
coast of South Carolina have been rescued from the phosphate rock
gathered for commercial purposes. This has been to a great extent
dredged from the rivers; and thus remains of Pleistocene and of Tertiary
animals have been mixed indiscriminately together. It is often
impossible to determine to what formation a fossil may belong. To add to
the difficulty of the palæontologist, the vertebrate remains are
sometimes found washed out and mingled with bones or teeth of what
appear to have been domestic animals.
Beginning at the northern end of the South Carolina coast-line, the
first locality furnishing Pleistocene fossils is, or rather was (Pugh,
op. cit. p. 33), White (or Price’s) Creek, in Horry County. Here at a
height of about 5 feet above tide was found a bed approximately 6 feet
thick apparently thrown up on the shore by storms (Tuomey, Geol. Rep.,
1848, p. 187). No vertebrates have been reported from the locality. At
Laurel Hill, in the extreme northeastern corner of Georgetown County,
Tuomey (op. cit., pp. 187, 188) found a perpendicular bluff 30 feet
high, at the base of which was a bed 8 feet thick made up of sand and
broken shells. The top of the bed was 8 feet above tide, the highest
elevation reached by the bed along the South Carolina coast. Tuomey
mentions other localities around Georgetown where the fossiliferous bed
was discovered. One was on Santee River. No vertebrates appear to have
been met with in this region. In Christ Church parish, in Charleston
County, Tuomey discovered several exposures of the bed in question, and
this was sometimes so superficial as to be within reach of the plow.
Pugh (Pleistocene Deposits, etc., p. 34) quotes from F. S. Holmes a
section which was found at Goose Creek, north of Charleston, as follows:
Yellow sand 12 feet
Blue mud 29 feet
Ferruginous sand, containing bones, etc. 3 inches
Yellow sand 3 feet
Pliocene marl resting on Eocene white marl 12 feet
The bones occurred likewise in the blue mud, and such were especially
well preserved. Leidy (Holmes’s Post-Pl. Foss. S. C., p. 102) recounts
his observations at this locality; nevertheless, the only vertebrate
fossil that the writer finds credited by Leidy to this locality is a
tooth of _Equus fraternus_ (=_E. leidyi_), which he figured (plate XV,
fig. 8).
Dredging for phosphate rock has been carried on extensively in Cooper
River; but of Pleistocene vertebrate fossils secured here the writer has
record of only _Megatherium, mirabile_. This is represented in the
Charleston Museum by a portion of a lower jaw.
Wando River is situated northeast of Charleston, runs parallel with the
coast, and empties into Cooper River. From this have (according to the
writer’s knowledge) been secured only _Equus complicatus_ and a part of
a tusk of _Odobenus_. The latter is in the Charleston Museum. In most
cases no record has been kept of the origin of the specimens in
collections.
The Pleistocene bed along Ashley River is famous for the number of
fossil vertebrates which it has furnished. It has been described by F.
S. Holmes in various publications, especially in the Introduction to his
Post-Pleiocene Fossils of South Carolina, 1860, pages I-XII. In the same
work, on pages 99–100, Dr. Leidy briefly described the geological
character of the beds; and on subsequent pages he described the
vertebrate species found there. The principal beds were located on
Ashley River, about 10 miles above Charleston. According to Pugh
(“Pleistocene Deposits of South Carolina,” p. 34), the fossiliferous
deposits rest on Miocene marls. At the top are 4 feet of yellow sands
with bands of clay; below, is a foot or more of blue mud lying on the
Miocene. The bones are more numerous and best preserved in the blue mud.
The Pleistocene bed is elevated only a few feet above tide-level.
Inasmuch as nearly all the species of Pleistocene vertebrates which have
been found along the South Carolina coast have been secured along the
Ashley River, the few found elsewhere will be included in the following
list. Some of those marked found somewhere about Charleston may have
been collected in or along Ashley River. In this list the contractions
following the names signify as follows: A, Ashley River; B, the region
about Beaufort; C, somewhere around Charleston; C. r., Cooper River; E,
Edisto River; G. c., Goose Creek; J. i., John’s Island; S. r., Stone
River; W. r., Wando River; Y., Yonge’s or Young Island. The species
preceded by the dagger are extinct.
Odobenus rosmarus A., W. r. (p. 29).
Lynx ruff us C.
†Canis sp. indet. C.
Procyon lotor A.
†Arctodus pristinus A.
Ursus americanus C.
Sylvilagus floridanus? A.
†Hydrochœrus æsopi A.
†Hydrochœrus pinckneyi C. (p. 365).
†Castoroides ohioensis A. (p. 279).
Castor canadensis A.
Ondatra zibethica A.
†Elephas imperator C. (p. 162).
†Elephas columbi A., B. (p. 155).
†Mammut americanum A., B. (p. 118).
Mammut progenium (p. 118).
†Bison latifrons? A. (p. 260).
†Bison sp. indet. A. (p. 260).
†Alces runnymedensis C. (p. 364).
Cervus canadensis A. (p. 242).
Odocoileus virginianus? A. (p. 231).
Camelops sp. indet.
†Tagassu lenis A. (p. 222).
†Tagassu sp. indet.? A. (p. 222).
†Tapirus haysii A. (p. 204).
†Tapirus sp. indet. A. (p. 205).
†Equus complicatus A., W. r., B. (p. 192).
†Equus leidyi A., J. i., G. c., S. r., B. (p. 192).
†Equus littoralis C. (p. 193).
†Hipparion venustum A.
†Physeter vetus A.
†Trichechus antiquus A.
†Megatherium mirabile A., C. r., S. r. (p. 35).
†Mylodon harlani A. (p. 35).
†Megalonyx jeffersonii B. (p. 35).
†Didelphis virginiana J. i.
†Alligator mississippiensis A.
†Pseudemys sp. indet. A.
†Testudo crassiscutata? A.
Trichiurus lepturus Y.
†Istiophorus robustus Y.
†Ischyrhiza mira? A.
Lepisosteus osseus A.
Dasyatis hastata? Y.
Besides the species enumerated, the early collectors found remains which
were identified as belonging to such domestic animals as the dog, ox,
sheep, and hog. Leidy rejected these as Pleistocene species, while
Holmes and Agassiz accepted them as such. Possibly the supposed dog was
in reality a wolf and the supposed ox a bison. Small teeth like those of
cows are fossilized as are the teeth of extinct animals. At Bee’s Ferry
on Ashley River the fossiliferous bed has a thickness of 3.5 feet and is
at about high-water mark. It is overlain by from 15 to 20 feet of loose
sands.
By far the most of the species have been entered in the list on the
authority of Joseph Leidy. Only F. S. Holmes reported the elk (_Cervus
canadensis_), and the writer has seen two teeth of the species at the
Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia credited to Charleston.
Holmes also reported _Glyptodon_, but that is not included in the list.
_Lynx ruffus_, _Ursus americanus_, _Hydrochœrus pinckneyi_, _Elephas
imperator_, _Bison latifrons_, _Alces runnymedensis_, _Camelops_ sp.,
and _Equus littoralis_ are included on the evidence of specimens seen by
the writer in the Charleston Museum or in some of the other collections
made on the coast of South Carolina. Loomis has recently (Amer. Jour.
Sci., vol. XLV, 1918, p. 438) described a specimen of _Mammut progenium_
(as _Mastodon americanus_) from near Charleston and another from near
Beaufort.
_Alces runnymedensis_ was first briefly referred to in Year Book No. 14
of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1915 (1916), page 387. The
name is based on an upper right hindermost milk molar in the Charleston
Museum (No. 13534). It is the property of Mr. Charles C. Pinckney. Where
the tooth was found is not known, but it was somewhere near Charleston,
in the phosphate-bearing area. The specific name is that of the estate
of the owner. The tooth closely resembles the corresponding one of
_Alces americanus_, but is larger and has a flatter crown. Only the
crown of the tooth is preserved, and of this a part of the enamel of the
inner anterior cone is broken off; otherwise it is in fine condition.
The color is very black. The following measurements are given of this
tooth and of the corresponding one of _Alces americanus_, No. 117055 of
the U. S. Biological Survey. The two teeth are only slightly worn.
_Measurements of milk molars of Alces, in millimeters._
┌────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ Dimensions taken. │A. americanum.│A. runnymedensis.│
├────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┼─────────────────┤
│Length of tooth near outer border │ 24.0│ 25.5│
│Length of tooth at middle width │ 21.5│ 23.0│
│Width of tooth along front border │ 23.0│ 23.0│
│Width of tooth from median style to │ │ │
│ base of inner hinder cone │ 21.0│ 24.0│
└────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────────┘
The angle between the outer and inner faces of the hinder half of the
tooth is 54° in the tooth of the existing species, 64° in the fossil
tooth. On the grinding-surface the fossettes are wider than in the tooth
of the existing moose.
It is interesting to find this moose in the region about Charleston. We
must suppose that it lived there during one of the glacial stages,
probably when the walrus occupied that part of the coast.
In the Pinckney collection is a tooth of a capybara that deserves
attention. A figure of it is here presented (fig. 18), a side view.
Exactly where the tooth was found is not known, but it was somewhere in
the vicinity of Charleston. The tooth is the upper left hindermost
molar. In the figure the front end is directed toward the left hand.
There are present 17 plates. None of the plates either in front or
behind are missing. The free edges of the plates are not turned
backward. The length of the tooth is 62 mm., the width is 17.5, the
height of the plates on the inner face 37 mm., but probably the less
calcified bases of the plates have been destroyed.
[Illustration:
FIG. 18.—Side view of upper last molar of _Hydrochœrus pinckneyi_ from
Charleston, S. C. ×1. Type.
]
On the grinding-surface the plates run obliquely from the inside outward
and backward. As seen on the inner face, the plates, as they pass to the
grinding-surface, lean backward. The corresponding tooth of a capybara
from Surinam has a length of 37 mm. The length of its skull from foramen
magnum to the front of the snout is 215 mm. In case the skull of the
fossil was long in proportion to the length of the tooth, the length as
given above would be 360 mm., about 15 inches.
To this fine large species I give the name _Hydrochœrus pinckneyi_, in
honor of Mr. Charles C. Pinckney, the owner of a collection of fossils
from the region about Charleston and the proprietor of the estate of
Runnymede, near Lambs, South Carolina.
In the same collection is a part of the lower jaw, right side, of a
rather large wolf. In this jaw there remain the complete fourth
premolar, the roots of the third premolar, and one root of the second
(fig. 19).
The following measurements are taken from the fragment mentioned; from
the corresponding part of a jaw of _Ænocyon dirus_, No. 8307, from La
Brea, California; from the gray wolf, _Canis occidentalis_, from Fort
Simpson, British America, No. 9001, U. S. National Museum; and from the
type of _C. floridanus_, in the U. S. National Museum.
_Measurements of jaws and teeth of wolves, in millimeters._
┌───────────────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────────┬──────────┐
│ Parts measured. │ │ │ C. │ C. │
│ │Charleston│ La Brea │occidentalis│floridanus│
│ │ jaw. │ jaw. │ jaw. │ type. │
├───────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────┤
│Height of jaw in front │ │ │ │ │
│ of pm_{4} │ 28│ 32│ 33│ 21.5│
│Thickness at front of │ │ │ │ │
│ pm_{4} │ 14│ 16│ 14.2│ 10.2│
│Length of pm_{4} │ 18.5│ 20.2│ 18.5│ 14.5│
│Thickness of hinder │ │ │ │ │
│ lobe of pm_{4} │ 9.5│ 11│ 9.5│ 7│
│Thickness of front lobe│ 8.5│ 9.8│ 8.5│ 6.4│
└───────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴────────────┴──────────┘
The measurements show that the fossil is much too large to belong to the
wolf now inhabiting Florida. It appears also to be too small to belong
to the wolf _Ænocyon dirus_, and _A. ayersi_ was but little if any
smaller. The lower teeth of the latter species are not known. The
accordance in measurements with those of _C. occidentalis_ makes it
probable that the fossil jaw found at Charleston belonged to a wolf not
greatly different. With the materials at hand it is impossible to refer
the jaw specifically.
[Illustration:
FIG. 19.-Part of the right side of the lower jaw of an undetermined
species of wolf, showing premolar. Charleston, S. C. ×1.
]
Within the city of Charleston the bed bearing vertebrate fossils is said
to be several feet below tide-level. At Young Island, Wadmalaw Sound,
nearly 20 miles southwest of Charleston, the top of the fossil-bearing
stratum is at tide-level. This locality is otherwise known in the
literature as Simmons’s. The only Pleistocene vertebrate fossils that
the writer finds reported from the place are the fishes _Lepisosteus
osseus_ and _Trichiurus lepturus_.
In the region about Beaufort, the same fossil-bearing stratum, having
about the same composition and the same elevation, is met with in many
places. A few species of fossil vertebrates and many invertebrates have
been secured. Here have been found _Mammut americanum_ (p. 118),
_Elephas columbi_ (p. 155), _Equus complicatus_ (p. 191), and _Megalonyx
jeffersonii_ (p. 35).
A brief notice will be taken of the few known localities where, away
from the immediate coast, vertebrate fossils have come to light.
Tuomey, in 1848 (Rep. Geol. South Carolina, p. 177), in describing marls
found near Darlington, on the farm of G. W. Dargan, and which he
regarded as belonging to the Pliocene, reported the discovery of two
perfect molars of a mastodon (p. 118). The locality was in a swamp, and
the bed of marl was covered with 3 or 4 feet of black mud. The teeth
were immediately below the mud and enveloped in the marl. These teeth
belonged to _Mammut americanum_ and had been deposited at some time
during the Pleistocene. At another place fragments of the antlers of a
deer were found in the marl. In such cases the marls formed at one time
the surface of the ground, or more probably the bottom of a swamp; and
the Pleistocene bones and teeth might have been trampled down into the
marl by living animals. On page 119 is given an account of another
mastodon tooth discovered in the same county; and the teeth of a horse
have been reported as having been found, associated with those of the
mastodon (see p. 193).
In Lee County, adjoining Darlington County on the southwest, at a
locality “near Concord church,” between Lynch’s Creek and Black River,
Tuomey (op. cit., p. 178) found a bed of Pliocene marl about 4 feet
thick. From an excavation in this marl had been taken a tusk which
Tuomey regarded as that of a mastodon, but this may have belonged to an
elephant. In Berkeley County, at the head of Cooper River, there is, or
was, a morass known as Biggin Swamp. This was passed through in
constructing the Santee Canal. On page 156 is an account of the
discovery of remains of _Elephas columbi_ and of _Mammut americanum_; on
page 162, the finding of a tooth of _Elephas imperator_. The discovery
of the latter marks the age of the deposits as being about that of the
Aftonian interglacial.
It has been seen that at many points along the coast there is a
fossiliferous stratum varying from 2 to 8 feet. At most localities the
fossils consist principally of marine animals, especially mollusks, and
the deposits have evidently been laid down in salt water. Along Ashley
River and at some localities in the region about Beaufort it seems
evident that the surface was above, but not far above, sea-level, and
that it formed a swamp on which a great variety of land animals could
move about and feed. After death their bones would suffer the fate which
befalls them in such cases. Most of them would undergo decay. Parts
would be trampled into the muck, broken into fragments, and undergo
still further decay. Only the most durable parts, as the teeth, antlers,
and the more solid bones would usually stand a chance for preservation.
Apparently, on this coast, no considerable parts of one skeleton have
ever been found, or at least reported. In Charleston Museum are many
bones of a skeleton of _Megatherium_, but it is uncertain where it was
found.
The list of vertebrates referred to the Pleistocene of the South
Carolina coast contains 33 species of mammals, of which 24 appear to be
extinct. This high proportion of extinct species seems to confirm our
reference of the fauna to the early Pleistocene. Besides the extinct
forms, it is to be noted that within historical times the muskrat,
beaver, and elk have not lived in the region about Charleston.
Pugh (Pleist. Deposits S. C., p. 66), from a study of the Pleistocene
marine mollusca of South Carolina, has concluded that, if the
Pleistocene sea-temperature differed at all from that of the present, it
was slightly higher rather than slightly lower. It must be remembered,
however, that the Pleistocene represented a very long period of time and
that, farther north, the climate underwent great fluctuations. That
these fluctuations would not have affected the temperature of the sea
along the coast of the Carolinas is not probable. It is hardly
supposable that capybaras and manatees lived about Charleston at the
same time that the moose and the walrus were there. The latter had been
forced down there during some glacial stage, possibly the Wisconsin;
while the horses, tapirs, elephants, manatees, the mylodon, and the
megatherium had their existence, we may suppose, about the time of the
Aftonian. During this stage, too, lived the species of mollusks which
Pugh has elaborated. It would seem that after that time some change took
place in conditions, probably a slight elevation, so that little more
than beds of unfossiliferous sand and marls were deposited.
Professor Earle Sloan, in his “Mineral Localities of South Carolina”
(Bull. No. 2, ser. IV., South Carolina Geol. Surv.), has recognized the
following divisions in the marine Pleistocene of the State:
6. Sea Island loams.
5. Wando clays and sands.
4. Accabee gravels.
3. Bohicket marl-sands.
2. Wadmalaw marl.
1. Ten-Mile sands.
Of these, the fossiliferous deposits referred to above appear to belong
to the Wadmalaw marl. It may be confidently expected that somewhere
along the South Carolina coast, beneath the beds bearing the vertebrate
fossils, there will yet be discovered other Pleistocene deposits,
probably shell marls, which belong to the Nebraska stage.
GEORGIA.
The only part of Georgia at present of interest to the student of
vertebrate palæontology is that which lies immediately along the
Atlantic coast and along a few of the larger rivers. The northwestern
corner of the State is mountainous and probably contains little or no
Pleistocene. The Coastal Plain extends landward to a line which starts
at Augusta, on Savannah River, passes through Milledgeville and Macon,
and ends at Columbus, on the Chattahoochee. A large part of this region
is mantled by a deposit resulting from the decay of the underlying
rocks. These deposits are of uncertain age, a part belonging probably to
the Pleistocene, but the large part to the Pliocene or to still older
Tertiary. The Pleistocene has not yet been differentiated from the
remainder, and, in any case, has furnished no vertebrate fossils. For
information on the subject the reader may consult McGee (12th Ann. Rep.
U. S. Geol., Surv., pt. I, pp. 478–484), Spencer (Geol. Surv. Georgia,
1890–91, pp. 61–81), and Veatch and Stephenson (Bull. 26, Geol. Surv.,
Georgia, pp. 400–456).
The deposits in Georgia which can with certainty be referred to the
Pleistocene form a broad belt lying along the coast and extending
landward a distance of about 30 miles along Savannah River and about 60
miles at the Florida boundary line. For a description of these deposits
the reader is referred to Veatch and Stephenson’s article in Bulletin 26
just mentioned, pages 424–456. These deposits are disposed in two
terraces, a higher and older and a lower and younger. The older is named
the Okefenokee formation, the younger the Satilla formation. The
positions of these may be observed in the figure here presented, taken
from Bulletin 26 above referred to (fig. 20).
The Okefenokee terrace has a breadth of 20 to 40 miles and an elevation
of 60 to about 125 feet above sea-level. It forms a plain which Veatch
and Stephenson describe as in general flat and almost featureless. It is
dotted with cypress ponds and swamps, with here and there low ridges and
hills of sand. Along the larger streams which cross the plain are found
terraces supposed to have been laid down while the Okefenokee terrace
was forming; they extend far back into the State. In neither the main
terrace nor the fluviatile terraces have any fossils been found, except
a little silicified wood.
[Illustration:
FIG. 20.—The Coastal Plain of Georgia. Adapted from Veatch.
]
The Satilla Plain extends backward from the coast 20 to 30 miles and
varies in elevation from 15 to 40 feet. On the landward side it ends in
an escarpment which is taken, by the authors quoted, to be an old
sea-beach. Along the large rivers it is continued as a series of
terraces occupying a lower position than those of Okefenokee time.
According to Veatch and Stephenson, this formation consists of
unconsolidated clays, sands, and thin layers of gravel. The thickness
averages about 15 feet, but may become as much as 45 or 50 feet.
The Satilla deposits are fossiliferous. At various places, at some
distance from the coast, sea-shells occur, especially shells of oysters.
This shows that at times the plain, or at least some parts of it, has
been under sea-water. Bones and teeth of vertebrate animals have been
discovered at several localities, but at only two places have
identifiable materials been secured. The region about Brunswick and that
just south of Savannah have furnished important collections of
vertebrate animals.
During the years 1838 and 1839 an attempt was made to construct a canal
to connect Altamaha River with Turtle River at Brunswick. Some bones of
large mammals were met with and came to the notice of Hamilton Couper,
and through him became known to the scientific world. The most striking
was the great ground-sloth, of the genus _Megatherium_, and which Leidy
afterwards called _Megatherium mirabile_. At a more recent time, during
dredging operations, probably in the harbor, other remains were found
and turned over to the Geological Survey of Georgia. The fragmentary
bones and teeth were identified by Mr. J. W. Gidley (Bull. No. 26, Geol.
Surv. Georgia, p. 436).
The fragments of teeth regarded by Gidley as belonging to _Mammut
floridanum_ appear to the writer to represent _Gomphotherium
rugosidens_, a species rather common in that region and belonging to the
upper Miocene or Lower Pliocene. Four teeth identified as those of
_Physeter vetus_ or _Physeterula neolassicus_ appear to be identical
with Leidy’s _Orycterocetus quadratidens_; but this may be possibly the
same as _Physeterula neolassicus_ (=_P. dubusi_). It, too, is older than
the Pleistocene. From the two collections have been determined the
following list:
Castoroides ohioensis (p. 280).
Elephas columbi (p. 157).
Mammut americanum (p. 120).
Bison sp. indet. (p. 261).
Cervus? sp. indet. (p. 243).
Tapirus haysii (p. 206).
Equus complicatus (p. 193).
E. leidyi (p. 193).
E. littoralis (p. 193).
Megatherium mirabile (p. 36).
Mylodon harlani (p. 36).
Chelonia (??) couperi.
Crocodylus (?) sp. indet.
Lamna sp. indet.
Galeocerdo sp. indet.
Carcharodon sp. indet.
Dasyatis sp. indet.
With the bones found in the canal was a femur 13 inches long, which
Harlan described as _Chelonia couperi_, but which resembles more closely
that of some edentate mammal. Gidley stated that the shark-teeth
probably represent Eocene and Miocene species. This may be true, but the
supposition is not necessary, inasmuch as species of all three genera
are yet living on our Atlantic coast.