The Pleistocene of North America / and its vertebrated animals from the states east of the Mississippi River and from the Canadian provinces east of longitude 95°

1. Wheeling, Ohio County.—The geologist J. W. Foster (Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 10th meeting, p. 160) reported that Alfred Sears had deposited in the Smithsonian Institution some elephant remains obtained 4.5 miles below Wheeling Creek. They were found on the second bottom or terrace and at a depth of 17 feet from the surface. Within a few feet of this place was an Indian mound. When the mound was built, 17 feet of sediment had accumulated over the elephant remains. One can, however, hardly refer the bones to a time farther back than the Wisconsin. A record in the U. S. National Museum shows that Mr. Sears, in 1852, sent a tusk and a tooth of an elephant to Washington. These were doubtless placed in the collection of the Old National Institute. If they were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution the record has apparently been lost.

NORTH CAROLINA.

1. 16 miles below Newbern, on Neuse River, in Pamlico County.—Harlan, in 1842 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XLIII, p. 143), stated that he had seen, in the collection made by Nuttall on Neuse River, remains of an elephant. Elisha Mitchell, in the same year (Elements of Geol., p. 128), stated that there was in the cabinet of the University of North Carolina a tooth of an elephant from the locality mentioned. Possibly the tooth referred by Croom (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XXVII, 1835, p. 170) to the mastodon and which was 7 inches wide and 9.5 inches deep, was really that of an elephant. Were it not for the fact that Elephas primigenius has been found in this region of North Carolina, one might, with confidence, refer the tooth found below Newbern to E. columbi. For other species found at this place the reader may consult pages 358 to 359.

2. Harlowe, Carteret County.—Elisha Mitchell (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XIII, 1827, p. 347) stated that in digging the Clubfoot and Harlowe Canal remains of both the mastodon and the elephant had been found. Nothing more definite was communicated. The probability is that the animal was Elephas columbi.

3. Duplin County.—At the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1850, Dr. R. W. Gibbes reported that he had obtained a part of a molar of an elephant found somewhere in Duplin County. He spoke of its resemblance in narrowness and in thinness of plates to a tooth found in Vermont and exhibited by Agassiz. Possibly it belonged to Elephas primigenius.

FLORIDA.

1. Wakulla Springs, Wakulla County.—In the collection of the Florida Geological Survey is a right tibia of an elephant reported found at the place named. The measurements shown in the accompanying table were secured. For comparison the dimensions of the tibia of the great Elephas primigenius in the American Museum of Natural History at New York are presented.

With the tibia from Wakulla Springs is the distal half of an immense femur of the left side. The distance across the articular surface of the distal end was at least 241 mm., but the bone has suffered some abrasion. The outer articular surface measures 115 mm.; the inner 1,202 mm. When the bone is placed on a table with the hinder face downward the inner ridge which bounds the patellar groove rises 280 mm. above the table. Whether these bones belong to Elephas imperator or to E. columbi is uncertain.

2. Stokes Ferry, St. Mary’s River, Nassau County.—In 1909, Sellards (2d Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 147) stated that Dr. L. W. Stephenson, of the U. S. Geological Survey, had found at this place, in a phosphate deposit, a fragment of an elephant tooth together with 3 teeth of a fossil horse and some ear-bones of a whale. The elephant belonged probably to E. columbi, but possibly to E. imperator.

3. Bartow, Polk County.—Dr. W. H. Dall (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1891, p. 120) has recorded the discovery at this place of tusks supposed to be those of Elephas columbi. Possibly the tusks were those of E. imperator or even those of Mammut americanum.

MISSISSIPPI.

1. Natchez, Adams County.—In his report on the Geology and Agriculture of Mississippi, 1854, page 284, Wailles wrote that fossil remains of the elephant were not then known to have been found in the State. However, on page 286, Elephas primigenius is included in the list of fossil Mammalia furnished by Leidy. The latter does not say where in Mississippi elephant remains had been discovered, but it was probably at Natchez.

In his work on the Lafayette formation (12th Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv., part 1, p. 400), McGee stated that at least one skull of the American elephant had been found at Natchez in gravel, well down toward the Port Hudson clays, and that to this adhered some of the coarse gravel of the matrix. Probably the species was Elephas columbi. It is likely that the skulls referred to by McGee were not as complete as he supposed.

1. Gallatin, Sumner County.—In 1835, Professor G. Troost (Trans. Geol. Soc. Penn., vol. I, 1835, p. 144) reported that a Mrs. Ephraim Foster possessed a tooth of Elephas primigenius found in a well at a depth of 40 feet. The identification followed the opinion of that time that only one species of elephant had existed in the country. It more probably belonged to E. columbi.

2. Columbia, Maury County.—In the publication just referred to the geologist G. Troost stated that he owned a tooth of Elephas primigenius, found a few miles below Columbia, probably near Duck River, but no details as to the exact locality and kinds of deposits were furnished. Hayes and Ulrich (Folio 95, U. S. Geol. Surv.) appear not to have recognized any Pleistocene in this quadrangle. On page 6 they stated that narrow strips of bottom lands occur along the larger streams, particularly along Duck River. The tooth was probably that of E. columbi.

KENTUCKY.

1. Bigbone Lick, Boone County.—Remains belonging certainly to both Elephas primigenius and E. columbi have been found here, and there is no reason for supposing that any other species has ever been collected. Many specimens have, however, been mentioned in the literature of the subject which one may have difficulty in referring to either of these species. The difficulty arises from the insufficiency of the descriptions and of the illustrations when there are any.

Two elephant molars from America were figured by Cuvier (Oss. Foss., ed. 4, plate XV, figs. 9, 11), without any exact locality being given, so far as the present writer can discover. Adams (Palæontograph. Soc., vol. XXXIII, p. 122) says of these that one was from Mississippi, the other from Bigbone Lick, but which is from the latter place is not indicated. Caspar Wistar (Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s., vol. I, 1818, p. 376) reported that in the Jefferson collection there were teeth which he referred to the Siberian elephant. Among these were some which belonged to a young animal.

William Cooper (Monthly Amer. Jour. Geol., vol. I, 1831, pp. 168–171) recalled the quantity of elephant remains found at Bigbone Lick before his visit. In the Finnell collection was a tusk with part of the base missing, which was still 11 feet 10.5 inches long and 22 inches in circumference. It was much curved, a fact which induced him to refer it to an elephant. In the same collection were numerous other parts of elephants, including 20 or more teeth. A Mr. Bullock secured a skull nearly entire. It is pretty certain that the greater part of all this fine material has been lost. Many of the bones and teeth collected in early times went to the museums of Europe; some are mentioned by Leith Adams (Palæontograph. Soc., vol. XXXIII, pp. 75, 122) and Lydekker (Cat. Foss. Mamm. Brit. Mus., pt. IV, p. 191).

2. Newport, Campbell County.—In 1871 Professor Shaler (Amer. Naturalist, vol. IV, p. 160) stated that he had a tooth of Elephas primigenius, which had been found in the uppermost terrace of the alluvial plane opposite Cincinnati, at a depth of over 60 feet from the surface.

In 1877 (Geol. Surv. Kentucky, vol. III, p. 79), the same writer stated that a molar tooth of Elephas primigenius had been found in the city of Newport, about 25 feet above high-water mark and at a depth of 40 feet. It is not improbable that the two accounts refer to the same specimen.

3. Bluelick Springs, Nicholas County.—In the collection of Mr. Thomas W. Hunter, made at this place, were several much water-worn teeth of elephants, the species not determined.

4. Eminence, Henry County.—The geologist David D. Owen, in 1857 (3d Geol. Surv. Kentucky, p. 103), reported that bones and teeth of the mammoth had, at times, been found here. They do not appear to have been preserved.