Fig. 1.—Geological section of Trim Creek. Beecher, Will County, Illinois.
Mr. Langford has written that all the mastodon bones were found above the gravel, some of them 5 or 6 feet below the surface. Antlers of the elk occurred only above the mastodon bones.
21. Morris, Grundy County.—In 1870, Frank H. Bradley (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. IV, p. 193) stated that in 1868 the remains of a mastodon were found at Turner’s “strippings,” about 3 miles east of Morris. These bones lay under 18 inches of black mucky soil and about 4 feet of yellowish loam, and rested on about a foot of hard blue clay, which itself covered the coal. The bones were mostly badly decayed and the greater part were broken and thrown away by the miners; but some, including a part of a lower jaw and 3 teeth, were sent to the State Cabinet at Springfield. The locality was regarded by Bradley as part of an old river bottom.
In 1871, Worthen referred to the same or another mastodon which had been found in the vicinity of Morris. He stated that it had been found in undisturbed drift, 8 feet below the surface. The blue clay on which lay the mastodon described by Bradley may have been brought down from the ice which deposited the Valparaiso moraine. The loam and muck were probably deposits of considerably later date. It is not probable that the Worthen mastodon was buried in undisturbed drift.
22. Whitewillow, Kendall County.—At a locality in this county, near Whitewillow, have been found many mastodon bones and those of various other animals. The place is 5 miles west by north of Minooka and 15 miles west of Joliet. Collections have been made there by Dr. E. S. Riggs, of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, and by Mr. George Langford, of Joliet. Mr. Langford wrote that his collection was made in township 35 north, range 8 east, and probably section 27. The farm belonged to John Bamford. Apparently Dr. Riggs’s collection was made at the same place. Further details will be found on page 337.
Dr. Riggs reported in Netta C. Anderson’s list, already referred to several times, that in 1902 at least six skulls and numerous other bones had been found in a well 10 feet in diameter. Above these were bones of bison, deer, and elk.
23. Yorkville, Kendall County.—In the Field Museum of Natural History is a composite skull of a mastodon, part of which was found somewhere about Yorkville; but the writer knows nothing more definite.
Yorkville is situated on Fox River, near the northwestern border of the Marseilles moraine.
24. Aurora, Kane County.—H. M. Bannister, in 1870 (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. IV, p. 113) wrote as follows: “A portion of the remains of a mastodon, consisting of the tusks and several teeth, was obtained in excavating the track for the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad near the city of Aurora, and are now preserved in the museum of Clark Seminary at that place.”
These same remains were described by the geologist C. D. Wilbur (Trans. Ill. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. I, p. 59, figs. 1 to 3). He stated that both tusks and seven teeth were found, all well preserved. The tusks were 10 feet long and 10 inches in diameter at the base; they were curved upward and considerably worn at the ends on the underside. Charles Whittlesey (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. XV, art. 3, p. 16) probably referred to these remains. He stated that they were found in a swamp.
Probably one of these teeth was sent to Dr. J. C. Warren, of Boston, the author of “The Mastodon giganteus of North America.” It is described in the second edition of this monograph, on page 76. In the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, volume IV, page 376, Warren described a tooth, probably the same, which had been found 40 miles west of Chicago, at a depth of 8 feet. He said it was the largest mastodon tooth then known.
In Netta C. Anderson’s list, page 10, it is reported that in 1875 some mastodon remains were found about 8 miles southwest of Naperville, which is in Du Page County. The locality would be not far from the common meeting-point of Kane, Kendall, Will, and Du Page Counties; also probably within 8 miles of Aurora. The remains, whatever they were, were donated to the museum of Jennings Seminary, Aurora.
In Netta C. Anderson’s list it is stated that teeth and a tusk of a mastodon were found, in 1853, by workmen extending the Burlington Railroad south of Aurora. They were in a swamp near Fox River, where the Burlington shops are situated. These remains, probably the same as those above described, were presented to Jennings Seminary.
25. Batavia, Kane County.—This town is in Kane County, about 9 miles north of Aurora. In Netta C. Anderson’s list, on page 13, Dr. E. S. Riggs, of the Field Museum of Natural History, reported that, somewhere in this vicinity, in cutting a ditch to drain a marshy lake of about 200 acres, some leg-bones and vertebræ of mastodon were found in a sticky clay from about 5 to 7 feet from the surface. Dr. Riggs writes that along the same ditch he picked up a jaw of the existing species of elk and some bison bones.
Maple Park, Kane County.—Doctor Rufus M. Bagg recorded in 1909 (Bull. Univ. Ill., vol. VI, No. 17, p. 50, plate IV) the discovery of a large part of the skeleton of a mastodon. It was found at a depth of 6 feet. The exact location was not given.
The whole of Kane County lies between or is covered by the Bloomington and Marseilles moraines, and the mastodons found there must have lived after the retirement of the ice which produced those moraines.
26. Glencoe, Cook County.—In Netta C. Anderson’s list, on page 9, Professor James G. Needham, of Lake Forest University, reported that a fragment of a mastodon’s tooth had been dug up while a ditch in glacial drift was being made.
Glencoe is situated on the eastern till ridge, as described by Leverett (Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., XXXVIII, p. 381), the one nearest the western shore of Lake Michigan. If the tooth mentioned really occurred in undisturbed drift, it is possible that it was redeposited from some earlier interglacial deposit.
In 1891, W. K. Higley (Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., vol. II, pt. 1, p. XV) reported the finding of some bones of a mastodon, about 6 years previously, on the south side of Wicker Park, near Milwaukee Avenue, Evanston. The bones were in a layer of fine sand in which were trunks of oak trees. The depth was 13 feet. The remark was made that the level marked the upper or late limit of the mastodon.
27. See page 105.
1. Dover, Racine County.—In the Milwaukee Public Museum is a tusk, identified as that of a mastodon, exhumed from a peat-bog at Dover, in 1878. Both tusks and some fragments of a scapula, some ribs, and vertebræ were found, but apparently no teeth. Only one tusk was saved; 4 feet 8 inches long and moderately curved, the middle of the concave surface being about 6 inches below a line joining the base and the tip of the tusk.
Dover is situated near the southern border of Racine County, in the southwestern corner of township 3 north, range 20 east. It is, therefore, within the great composite moraine which runs along the western side of Lake Michigan. According to Alden’s map (Prof. Paper 106, U. S. Geol. Surv., plate III) the town is on a tract covered by ground moraine of the Lake Michigan glacier.
2. Waukesha, Waukesha County.—In the Milwaukee Public Museum is a slightly worn upper hindermost molar of a mastodon, No. 3867, labeled as having been found at Waukesha. There is no other history. The geological age is probably practically the same as that of the tooth found at Dover, Late Wisconsin.
3. Madison, Dane County.—The records for mastodons at Madison are not very satisfactory.
Professor Eliot Blackwelder informs the writer that there is in the collection at the State University of Wisconsin a large vertebra, supposed to be that of a mastodon, brought up out of Lake Monona, in 1906.
Professor C. A. Davis informed the author that in 1908 he visited the fill in one of the city parks made by pumping mud from Lake Monona and found fragments of ivory and parts of proboscidean bones. It is possible that these fragments belonged to an elephant.
4. Bluemounds, Dane County.—In 1862 J. D. Whitney, in his “Report on the Geological Survey of the Upper Mississippi Land Region,” page 132, mentions having found, at Bluemounds, the first 3 deciduous molars of the mastodon, exquisitely preserved and not at all discolored. Dr. Jeffries Wyman, in Whitney’s report, on pages 421, 422, referred to these milk molars. Whitney in 1866 (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. I, p. 162) stated that he had found in a crevice near Bluemounds bones and teeth of mastodon, peccary, buffalo, and wolf.
5. Lone Rock, Richland County.—Professor Eliot Blackwelder, of the Wisconsin State University, informs the writer that there is in their collection a pair of tusks, supposed to be of a mastodon. They were found somewhere about Lone Rock in 1901, which is on the northern bank of the Wisconsin River, in the southeastern corner of Richland County.
6. Sinsinawa, Grant County.—In his report on the geology of the lead region, already referred to, J. D. Whitney stated, on his page 133, that the greatest quantity of bones of the mastodon found in that region seems to have been near Sinsinawa mound, but he had no exact particulars of depth or position. Some were preserved at the locality for several years; others, to the amount of several bushels, were carried off or destroyed.
7. Wauzeka, Crawford County.—In the collection of the Public Museum of Milwaukee is an upper last molar, found at the place named. It is only slightly worn and nearly white in color. Nothing is known about the exact place or under what conditions it was found.
8. Richland Center, Richland County.—Professor George Wagner of the Wisconsin State University, has informed the writer that there is in that university an almost complete skeleton of a mastodon, found at the place named. No particulars are known to the present writer regarding the history of the specimen.
9. Menomonie, Dunn County.—Professor S. Weidman, of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, informed the writer that in the brick clays used at Menominee had been found a part of a leg-bone of a mastodon. Dr. Weidman was kind enough to send the bone for examination. It proved to be the distal end of the right humerus, including the epiphysial part. The interior of the bone had been neatly excavated, as if by a tool of some kind, the marks of which remained, which proved to be the jaws of a wolf. He had evidently been after the marrow and had scraped out all of the part filled by cancellated bone. The explanation appears to be that the mastodon had in some way broken an arm and had died. The wolves then proceeded to devour him; they could not have broken the limb themselves.
The finding of the bone shows that these clays belong to the Pleistocene. In a sand formation underlying the clays a caribou antler and bones of the Mackinaw trout, Cristivomer namaycush, have been found. Professor Weidman regards the clays as being of pre-Iowan age.
1. St. Mary’s City, St. Mary’s County.—The U. S. National Museum (No. 200) contains a fine upper left hindermost molar of Mammut americanum, labeled as presented by Mr. J. Varden and as found many years ago in a marl-bed at or near the town named. It was probably met in digging for Miocene marl, but was doubtless inclosed in overlying Pleistocene materials. According to Shattuck’s Pleistocene map of Maryland (Pleistocene volume, plate I), St. Mary’s City is situated on the Wicomico terrace; but because of absence of exact information whether the tooth was in the body of this deposit, or below it, or possibly in later materials above the Wicomico, its exact age can not be determined. Teeth from the locality were mentioned by Lucas on page 162 of the volume just cited. The geology of the county is described in a special volume of the Maryland Survey, 1907.
2. St. Clements, St. Mary’s County.—The U. S. National Museum contains a lower right hindermost molar, found long ago, apparently 1837, and presented by A. McWilliams. It is recorded as having been discovered in digging a mill-race at or above St. Clements. This race must quite certainly have been located along St. Clements Creek. The place is situated in the Wicomico plain; but possibly Talbot deposits extended up the creek farther than mapped.
3. Towson, Baltimore County.—Professor F. A. Lucas (Maryland Pliocene, Pleistocene vol., p. 163) stated that the collection of the Maryland Geological Survey contains a fine upper last molar of a mastodon found on the Ridgeley estate, at Hampton, near Towson, about 10 miles north of Baltimore. At present one can not determine the time during the Pleistocene when this tooth was part of a living creature.
4. Lane’s Creek?, Washington County.—The writer received, in 1912, a letter from Professor A. F. Bechdolt, of Bellingham, State of Washington, in which he stated that somewhat more than 37 years before, while teaching school in Washington County, Maryland, he saw the remains of a skull of a mastodon which some negroes had unearthed in making a mill-race, but they had broken it in pieces with sledgehammers. Professor Bechdolt recollected plainly the “mammillary face” of the tooth. The locality is described as being near the Pennsylvania line, south and somewhat west of Mercersberg, Pennsylvania, among the foot-hills of North Mountain, at a place locally known as “The Corner.” It appears probable that the locality was somewhere along Lane’s Creek.
4. Clear Spring, Washington County.—In circular No. 109, volume XIII, Johns Hopkins University, 1893, pages 26, 27, is an account of the finding of a mastodon tooth in 1863. It was discovered after a storm, lying on a pile of driftwood, in Conococheague Creek, at a point 2.5 miles south of Clear Spring, and a mile north of the entry of the creek into Potomac River. The tooth is in the collection of Johns Hopkins University.
1. Six miles east of Williamsburg, York County.—In Godman’s Natural History (3d ed., 1860, vol. II, p. 77) mention is made of the discovery, in 1811, of remains of a mastodon along the banks of the York River, 6 miles east of Williamsburg. The account was derived from Dr. S. L. Mitchill (Med. Repos., New York, vol. XV, p. 388; Cuvier’s “Theory of the Earth,” p. 399). He had received his information from Bishop James Madison, then president of College of William and Mary, at Williamsburg. The parts found consisted of the bones of the pelvis, a thigh bone, 2 vertebræ, 2 ribs, 2 tusks, and 7 molar teeth, 4 of which were yet in a part of the jaw, probably the lower. The largest tooth is reported as weighing 7.25 pounds; the smallest between 3 and 4 pounds. It is probable that mastodon teeth in a wet condition would weigh the amount stated. Clark and Miller (Bull. IV, Virginia Geol. Surv., 1912, p. 20) refer this animal to the Pleistocene of the Talbot formation.
Dr. Lyon G. Tyler, president of College of William and Mary, informs the writer that the fossils above mentioned were doubtless destroyed in a fire which consumed the main building in 1859.
2. City Point, Prince George County.—The U. S. National Museum (No. 539) contains a part of the upper second true molar of Mammut americanum, sent there in 1888 by Mr. John S. Webb. The tooth is silicified. Mr. Webb reported that the fragment had been unearthed by laborers in making a ditch through some lowland which abounded in shells and blue marl. In a letter dated September 2, 1918, Mr. Webb informed the writer that his recollection is that the tooth was found about 12 miles north of Disputanta and near James River.
3. Abingdon, Washington County.—An upper right second true molar in the U. S. National Museum (No. 8807) is recorded as having been received in January 1869 from Mr. Wyndham Robinson, but there is no information as to the exact locality, depth, and kind of soil inclosing it. With it were found some vertebræ and fragments of ribs and of tusks.
4. Saltville, Smyth County.—In the U. S. National Museum is the horizontal part of the right ramus of the lower jaw of a young mastodon, found at the place named. This, with some remains of an undetermined species of Bison and some teeth of Elephas primigenius, were presented to the museum in 1914 by Mr. H. D. Mount. They had been found about 1896, in making an excavation for the water reservoir of the town. It is said that within less than a century the valley at Saltville was at times a lake. The reservoir is situated at the edge of this former lake. The bones were found at a depth of not more than 8 feet. Mr. O. A. Peterson (Ann. Carnegie Mus., vol. XI, 1917, p. 474) records the finding of mastodon remains in the Saltville deposit. He states that fragmentary remains of mastodon have for many years been picked up in that valley. A list of the species of vertebrates found at this place is given on page 353.
About 100 years ago (Med. and Physic. Jour., Phila., XV, 1806, 1st Supp., p. 388) an account of the discovery of mastodon remains in Wythe County, Virginia, was published by B. S. Barton. The details had been communicated to him by Bishop James Madison, president of William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. According to the bishop, not only were bones discovered but also the stomach of the animal in a state of perfect preservation, and containing a large quantity of half-masticated food (Godman’s Amer. Nat. Hist., 3d ed., 1860, vol. II, p. 74). Later, the bishop admitted that he had been misinformed. It is probable that something was found there, at least some bones. Bishop Madison had made arrangements to have the bones sent to Williamsburg; but if they reached there they were doubtless destroyed by a fire in 1859. The supposed discovery is mentioned in Cuvier’s “Ossemens Fossiles,” volume II, page 270, and is discussed in Barton’s “Archæologia Americana,” 1814, page 41.
Wythe County at that time occupied far more territory than at present, and possibly the bones described by Madison had really been found in Washington or Smyth Counties; but Saltville, as the writer is informed by Mr. E. C. Hutton, surveyor, never was in Wythe County.
5. Covington, Alleghany County.—In 1901 there was sent to the U. S. National Museum by Dr. A. C. Jones, of Covington, a lower last molar of a mastodon found at that place. This tooth differs from the ordinary teeth of Mammut americanum in having the crown more depressed. The writer has observed similar teeth which have been found elsewhere. It is possible that they belonged to a species distinct from M. americanum. Dr. Jones informed the writer that the tooth was found within the city limits of Covington, about 300 yards from Jackson River, at a depth of 12 feet, in brick clay.
6. Hot Springs, Bath County.—In the U. S. National Museum is a part of an upper left second true molar, recorded as having been found about a mile from the Hot Springs Hotel. The tooth is silicified. It was presented by Mr. J. F. McAllister. Hot Springs is at the head of Wilson Creek, a tributary of Jackson River. In the folio of Monterey Quadrangle coming down nearly to Hot Springs, no mention is made of any Pleistocene; but the presence of occasional deposits of soils along some of the streams is recorded. Evidently some of these deposits were laid down in Pleistocene times.
7. Edom, Rockingham County.—The American Geologist in 1891 (vol. VII, p. 335), contains an account of the finding at this place of bones of what was called a mammoth, but which was more probably a mastodon. It was said to have been discovered on the land of a Mr. Frank. The information was furnished by Dr. Zirkle, who stated that a nearly complete skull had been found.
In the U. S. National Museum is the symphysis of the lower jaw of a mastodon, recorded only as having been found in Virginia. The specimen (No. 210) would not be worth mentioning were it not that it presents in front two sockets for tusks of considerable size. The bases of the tusks are retained at the bottom of the sockets. The left socket has a diameter of about 35 mm.; the other is slightly smaller. From the outside of one socket to the outside of the other is 94 mm. The front of the symphysis is damaged, so that its length can not be determined. Its lower face is quite flat. The height of the jaw at the front of the tooth which was present is about 150 mm. It seems to the writer that this jaw belonged to the species Mammut progenium.
1. Stewartstown, Monongalia County.—Dr. G. F. Wright, in his “Ice Age in Northern America,” fifth edition, page 378, wrote that Dr. I. C. White had reported (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 3, vol. XXXIV, pp. 378–379) the finding of a tooth of a mastodon at this place; but in the article quoted nothing is said about a mastodon. Evidently White published this article elsewhere.
The tooth is said to have been dug up on the fifth and highest terrace along Monongahela River. In White’s article, page 378, it is stated that in the region of Morgantown the high-terrace deposits are about 275 feet above low-water in the Monongahela and 1,065 feet above tide. It is probable that the mastodon lived there during the early Pleistocene.
2. Parkersburg, Wood County.—In 1902 the present writer received from Mr. J. W. Miller, of the High School of Williamstown, West Virginia, a letter inclosing photographs of a mastodon tooth, found on Neal Island, 3 miles above Parkersburg. The tooth appears to be the upper left second molar and is furnished with all of its roots. The writer does not know under what conditions the tooth was found. Its perfect state of preservation shows that it could not have been carried far by the stream. For a discussion of the Pleistocene of some parts of West Virginia the reader may consult the paragraphs on pages 354–355.
1. New Hanover County.—Under this number must be mentioned that a tooth of Mammut americanum has been found about 10 miles below Wilmington, near the Fort Fisher road. This tooth is in the possession of Captain E. D. Williams, of Wilmington.
2. Pender County.—Professor H. H. Brimley, of the State Museum at Raleigh, North Carolina, has informed the writer that there are in that museum some remains of mastodon from Pender County; but nothing more is known to the present writer about the nature of these remains or about the locality where they were found.
3. Duplin County.—From the same source it is learned that there are in the collection at Raleigh teeth of mastodon which had been found in Duplin County.
4. Goldsboro, Wayne County.—In the State Museum at Raleigh is a left ramus of a mastodon, collected near Goldsboro. The writer has examined this important specimen and has also received a photograph of it, sent by Professor H. H. Brimley. This is evidently the jaw described by Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1871, p. 113) from photographs received from Professor W. C. Kerr, then State geologist of North Carolina. This jaw was recorded as having been obtained from gravel overlying Miocene marl, near Goldsboro.
This specimen presents the peculiarity of having two tusks at the front of the symphysis. The diameter of these is 45 mm. How long they were originally can not be determined. The form of this jaw and presence of two large incisor tusks indicates that this specimen belongs to Mammut progenium. The front molar present, M2, has a length of 122 mm. and a width of 88 mm. Leidy regarded this jaw as having belonged to a male animal. Professor E. Emmons (Geol. Surv. North Carolina, 1858, p. 199) mentions that a large number of bones had been found in a marl pit near Goldsboro.
5. Jacksonville, Onslow County.—In the collection of the State Museum at Raleigh the writer has seen a part of a skeleton of a mastodon, found near Jacksonville and exhumed by Mr. T. W. Adicks. A considerable part of the skull, including upper teeth, both upper tusks, lower jaw, and some limb-bones, were secured. The animal was evidently a fully mature one, as there were present in the jaws the last and the next to the last molars; but these were not greatly worn. In the lower jaw there were no tusks, but the tip of the jaw seemed to indicate that earlier in life these might have been present. The upper tusks are unusually short. One is 33 inches (841 mm.) long, 94 mm. in diameter at the base, and 120 mm. about the middle of the length. At the base is a pulp-cavity whose depth is 230 mm. The distal end of this tusk is much worn, evidently during the life of the animal. On one side is a flat surface 120 mm. long and 75 mm. wide which is directed obliquely to the plane of the curvature of the tusk. Opposite this surface is another whose plane is parallel with that of the curvature of the tusk. About 50 mm. from its tip the tusk is crossed by a groove nearly 20 mm. wide and 42 mm. deep, which appears to have been produced by the drawing of branches or roots across the tusk. About 60 mm. further back there is another groove, broader and shallower. The other tusk is 940 mm. long. Near its extremity it is crossed by three grooves, one of which, about 55 mm. behind the tip, runs two-thirds of the way around the tusk.
The small size of the tusks makes it pretty certain that this animal was a female. The jaw does not differ especially from that of a Late Wisconsin mastodon, apparently about one-sixth taller, found near Winamac, Indiana, and now mounted in the U. S. National Museum.
6. Maysville, Jones County.—From Professor H. H. Brimley, of the State Museum, at Raleigh, the writer has learned that tusks and teeth of Mammut americanum had been secured for that museum at Maysville. This is situated on White Oak River. Photographs show the teeth are lower hindermost molars, right and left. The writer has seen these teeth; likewise upper second and third molars and the tusks. The latter are of medium size, having a diameter of 120 mm. at the base. The pulp-cavity is 190 mm. deep. The enamel of all the teeth is rather rough and corrugated.
7. Sixteen miles southeast of Newbern, Pamlico County.—On the left bank of Neuse River, at a point said to be 16 miles below Newbern, several vertebrate fossils were collected many years ago. The collection appears to have been made by the botanist Nuttall; but the first mention found by the writer is a paper by H. B. Croom, in 1835 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 1, vol. XXVII, pp. 168–171). He stated that the locality was on the north bank of Neuse River, on the land of Mr. Benners, who had dug several pits in order to obtain marl. In these pits, some reaching a depth of 25 feet, many fossil shells, sharks’ teeth, and bones of marine fishes were found. These marls appear to belong to the Pleistocene (Stephenson, North Carolina Geol. and Econom. Surv., vol. III, p. 289). In the same pits were found teeth and bones of various Pleistocene mammals. A few of the fossils, as the great shark tooth, certainly belonged to Tertiary deposits. Croom states that there were fragments of the horns of a fossil elk; also a mastodon tooth which had a breadth of 7 inches and a depth of 9.5 inches. It is not improbable that this was a tooth of an elephant. Teeth, supposed to belong to a fossil elk and which had a breadth of 3 inches and a depth of 4.5 inches, were probably hindermost milk molars of Mammut americanum. Harlan (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XLIII, 1842, p. 143) indicated that he had seen in the collection made by Nuttall remains of the mastodon; also of a supposed Sus, an elephant, elk, deer, horse, seal, cetaceans, a tortoise, shark, skate, snake, and fish. This collection apparently passed into the hands of T. A. Conrad. J. W. Foster (Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., vol. X, p. 166) stated that Conrad had many years previously obtained these animals near Newbern. Besides those mentioned he included a hippopotamus. This identification was probably based on milk tusks or lower tusks of the mastodon.
8. Harlowe, Carteret County.—In 1828 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XIII, p. 348), Elisha Mitchell wrote that in digging the Clubfoot and Harlowe Canal, remains of both the elephant and the mastodon had been found. Under this number may be mentioned the finding of a jaw of a mastodon in the Inland Waterway Canal, which appears to run some miles east of the old Clubfoot and Harlowe Canal. This specimen is, or was recently, in the laboratory of the U. S. Fish Commission at Beaufort.
9. Pitt County.—In 1871 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., p. 113), Leidy reported that an isolated lower last molar tooth of Mammut americanum, but accompanied by the jaw, had been obtained in Pitt County. No more exact locality was mentioned. In the U. S. National Museum (No. 202) is a lower right hindermost molar which was found in Pitt County.
10. Wilson County.—From Professor H. H. Brimley the writer learned that there are in the museum at Raleigh some remains of mastodon from Wilson County. The writer has seen at Raleigh a lower second left molar, from Wilson County.
11. Tarboro, Edgecombe County.—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 205) is a lower right last molar of Mammut americanum, recorded as having been sent by Dr. Pitman, of Tarboro. It is black and very heavy.
12. Rocky Mount, Nash County.—Professor E. Emmons (Geol. Surv. North Carolina, 1852, p. 56) mentioned the finding of mastodon bones in marl-pits, on the farm of Mr. Knight, on the bank of Tar River, 3 miles west of Rocky Mount. The Pleistocene is here supposed to belong principally to the Sunderland, but partly to the Wicomico formation. Emmons, in 1858 (Rep. North Carolina Geol. Surv., Agric. East Cos., p. 199), figured and briefly described a molar of a mastodon which he referred to Mastodon giganteus. This was found in a Miocene marl pit in Halifax County; but so many Pleistocene species have been reported from such marls that it is possible that the tooth belonged to a Pleistocene animal.
Leidy (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. VII, 1869, p. 396) referred this tooth with doubt to his Mastodon obscurus; but the type of the latter, a lower molar (Leidy op. cit., plate XXVII, fig. 13), presents no such double series of trefoils.
Leidy (op. cit., p. 247, plate XVII, fig. 16) referred some fragments of mastodon teeth found at Tarboro to his Mastodon obscurus; but these seem to the writer to belong to Gomphotherium rugosidens. We do not know that G. obscurum is a Pleistocene species, nor is it certain that it has been found in North Carolina.
1. Beaufort, Beaufort County.—In the region about Beaufort numerous remains of mastodons have been found, most of which are to be referred to Mammut americanum. In the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia the writer has seen a fine left lower last molar of this species. The collection of Rutgers College contains a part of a tooth from Coosaw River. At Princeton University there is an upper second true molar from somewhere about Beaufort. Field Natural History Museum has 3 teeth of Mammut, recorded as having been found in the phosphate bed at Beaufort.
Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1870, p. 98) stated he had seen, in the collection of C. N. Shepard at Amherst College, bones, fragments of jaws, and teeth of mastodon from the marl at the head of Hilton Harbor, on St. Helena Island, on which Beaufort is situated. Among these were 2 inferior tusks about 10 inches long and 2 inches in diameter at the base. If the molars which accompanied them had differed from those of Mammut americanum, Leidy would have been quick to note the fact. Evidently the bones and teeth mentioned by Leidy are those now in the mounted skeleton at Amherst College, described by Professor F. B. Loomis (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 3, vol. XLV, p. 437, figs. 1, 3, 4) as Mastodon americanus. This was a very large animal and the two large lower tusks show that it belonged to Mammut progenium.
In the Academy’s collection at Philadelphia is a large hindermost molar, 180 mm. long and 96 mm. wide, which had been sent to the Academy in company with the type of Gomphotherium rugosidens.
2. Ashley River, above Charleston, Charleston County.—In 1860 (Holmes’s Post-Pl. Foss. South Carolina, p. 109), Leidy stated that fragments of teeth and bones had been found in the Post-Pliocene deposits of Ashley River, apparently referable to Mastodon ohioticus (Mammut americanum). In a footnote to this statement, F. S. Holmes says that since Leidy’s statement was written several perfect teeth have been discovered, and referred to plate XIX, figures 1, 2, 3. These figures illustrate the teeth which belonged to Dr. L. F. Klipstein, Christ Church. In the preface to Holmes’s work he refers to the teeth on this plate as being those associated with teeth of a horse, remains of a deer, and a piece of pottery. On page III of the introduction there is further explanation of the discovery. Exactly where the swamp which Klipstein was draining was situated seems not to have been stated, but the context appears to indicate that it was somewhere along Ashley River.
In 1918 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 3, vol. XLV, p. 438, fig. 2, not “fig. 3”) Professor Loomis described and figured 2 lower tusks, found in Nine Mile Bottom, 9 miles above Charleston, probably along Ashley River. On page 441 Loomis correctly described these, except that what he called enamel is only a dense outer layer of dentine. Evidently these tusks had been used for punching against hard objects. One may surmise that the animal had been accustomed to bark trees with them.
Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1870, p. 98) states that he saw in the collection of C. N. Shepard, at Amherst College, remains of mastodons, etc., which had been found on Ashley River.
In the collections at Charleston, both the private ones and that of the Charleston Museum, there are teeth of Mammut americanum, but records of exact localities are usually wanting.
3. Head of Cooper River, Berkeley County.—John Drayton, in his “View of South Carolina,” in 1802, page 39, plate, figure 4, mentions the discovery of fossil bones in Biggin Swamp, made in digging a canal between Santee and Cooper Rivers. It appears probable that this swamp is not far from Monks Corner. Drayton’s figure shows that the tooth was one of Mammut americanum. It is said to have been buried at a depth of 8 or 9 feet. B. S. Barton (Archæologia Amer., 1814, pp. 22–23) stated that he had examined teeth of both mastodon and elephant from this swamp. George Turner (Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. IV, 1899, p. 511) speaks of the discovery of bones of what is called the mammoth in the construction of the Santee and Cooper River Canal. Cuvier (Oss. Foss., ed. 4, vol. II, p. 275) stated that the naturalist M. Bose had witnessed the exhumation of 5 molars of mastodon during the excavation of the “canal de Caroline,” 15 miles from Charleston. They were found in pure sand at a depth of 3 feet. It is possible that there is here an error in the distance from Charleston.
4. Lee County.—Tuomey (Rep. Geol. Surv. South Carolina, 1848, p. 178) states that between Lynch’s Creek and Black River, “near Concord church,” he found a bed of Pliocene marl about 4 feet thick, which, like the Darlington deposit, rests on black shale. In an excavation made in this marl, he found a portion of a tusk of a mastodon. This might, indeed, have belonged to an elephant, but more probably to Mammut americanum.
5. Darlington County.—In 1848 (Rep. Geol. Surv. South Carolina, 1848, pp. 177–180), Tuomey reported that 2 perfect molars of Mastodon maximus (=Mammut americanum) had been found on land of G. W. Dargan, somewhere near Darlington. They were found in a swamp and covered with 3 or 4 feet of mud, but lying in a marl which he regarded as belonging to the Pliocene. One was sent to the college at Columbia. In a note to the geologist J. W. Foster (Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., vol. X, 1856, p. 167), Tuomey stated that he had placed in the cabinet of South Carolina College a fine tooth of mastodon, found in Darlington district. At an earlier date Robert W. Gibbes (same Proceedings, vol. III, 1850, p. 67) exhibited before the association teeth of a horse found at Darlington, associated with bones of Mastodon.
1. Brunswick, Glynn County.—In Richard Harlan’s list (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., vol. I, 1841–43, p. 189) of fossil vertebrates which had been exhumed in making the Brunswick Canal were mentioned teeth of Mastodon giganteum (=Mammut americanum). About this time J. H. Couper (Proc. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. IV, p. 33) read a paper in which he mentioned the occurrence of the same species in the canal referred to. Lyell (Second Visit, etc., p. 348) included the mastodon among the species discovered here. Richard Owen (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1846, p. 93) reported the result of an examination of a collection submitted to him through Lyell. Hippopotamus had been recognized in a supposed incisor; but Owen showed that it was a small tusk of a proboscidean, probably of Mammut americanum. Leidy (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. VII, p. 248) stated that he had examined in the collection of the Academy the hinder part of a tooth of the American mastodon.
Gidley (Bull. 26, Geol. Surv. Georgia, p. 436) recognized Gomphotherium floridanum and Mammut americanum in a collection which had been made some years ago at Brunswick, probably in dredging in the harbor. Inasmuch as only fragments of these teeth were present, the identification was difficult. The writer has, through the kindness of Professor S. W. McCallie, had the opportunity to examine these fragments. They appear all to belong to Gomphotherium rugosidens, a species rather common in that region. This species probably does not belong to the Pleistocene, but to the upper Miocene or the Lower Pliocene. It is possible, however, that it belongs to the lowermost Pleistocene, the Nebraskan.
2. Skidaway Island, near Savannah, Chatham County.—Remains of Mammut americanum have been found at two places in Chatham County, Heyner’s Bridge and Skidaway Island. Lyell (Travels in N. A., 1845, vol. I, p. 163) records his visit to Heyner’s Bridge, on White Bluff Creek, about 7 miles south of Savannah. In Hodgson’s memoir this locality is said to be on Vernon Creek (map 40). Lyell had learned from Dr. Habersham that bones of mastodons and other extinct mammals had already been found there. Lyell himself secured a grinder of a mastodon. It was found in a bed of clay about 6 feet thick exposed only at low water. The tooth referred to may be the one mentioned by Lydekker (Cat. Foss. Mamm. Brit. Mus., pt. IV, p. 23). Hodgson (“Memoir on Megatherium,” p. 12) reported the discovery of mastodon remains at this place, specifying a section of a tusk 3.25 feet long and nearly 11 inches in circumference; also a femur, which was sent to Paris. Reference is made to the mastodon remains on page 42 of the memoir mentioned. For the geology of this locality and a list of the species found there the reader is referred to page 371.
It has not been practicable to arrange the figures on the map of mastodons in Florida in an orderly manner. Below, the localities are described by beginning at the northern end of the State and ending at the southern end.
1. Marianna, Jackson County.—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 324) is a tooth of Mammut americanum, recorded as having been sent to the National Institute, September 25, 1847, by Walter Yonge, from Marianna. No additional information has been preserved. It is a large upper right last molar, with 5 cross-crests, a hinder talon, and nearly complete roots. Marianna is situated on Chipola River.
12. Little River, Gadsden County.—Dr. E. H. Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., 1916, p. 104) reported that a tooth of Mammut americanum had been obtained from Little River.
2. Fort White, Columbia County.—Dr. E. H. Sellards reported to the writer the discovery of a tooth of Mammut americanum at a point 3 miles northwest of Fort White. No details have been received. The town is on Santa Fe River.
3. Citra, Marion County.—In Ward’s Natural History Establishment, at Rochester, New York, the writer saw in January 1914, 2 cross-crests of a probably hindermost upper molar of Mammut americanum. There had been present a large pulp-cavity. Nothing definite about the history of the specimen could be obtained, except that it had been found at Citra.
15. Neals, Alachua County.—From this locality Sellards (5th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 58) reported the discovery of a mastodon, probably Gomphotherium floridanum. Associated with this species was an undetermined species of Hipparion. At the same place has been found Tapirus terrestris? On his plates IV and V of the same volume, Sellards has figured teeth belonging to two undetermined species of mastodons. All of these fossils came from the phosphate deposits at Neals.
16. Archer, Alachua County.—Dr. Joseph Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1886, p. 11) reported that Dr. W. H. Dall had discovered at Archer remains of a mastodon to which Leidy gave the name Mastodon floridanus. It is here referred to the genus Gomphotherium. It was associated in the Alachua clays with a species of Hipparion, three species of Procamelus, and a rhinoceros; also an astragalus of Megatherium. All of these, except the last, are usually referred to the Lower Pliocene or the Upper Miocene. The writer believes that they belong to the lowest Pleistocene, the Nebraskan.
17. Williston, Levy County.—Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1887, p. 309) reported the finding of several species of fossil vertebrates in the Mixon bone-bed, at or near Williston. The species were Gomphotherium floridanum, Hipparion plicatile, Procamelus major, and Teleoceras proterus. These were found in the Alachua clays at depths from 2.5 to 6 feet. In Dall’s list of 1892 (Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. No. 84, p. 129) Hipparion ingenuum is included.
18. Juliette, Marion County.—Sellards, in 1913 (5th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 58), stated that Gomphotherium floridanum had been found in hard phosphate in a mine at this place. As in other such cases, he referred the species to the Upper Miocene or the Lower Pliocene.
5. Dunnellon, Marion County.—In the collection of the Florida Geological Survey is a fragment of a molar of Mammut americanum which was dredged up from Withlacoochee River during operations by the Schilman and Bene Phosphate Company. It was presented by John D. Robertson.
In the possession of Mr. J. D. Robertson of Ocala, Florida, is a part of a skull of Mammut americanum, reported by him to have been found in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 1, township 17 south, range 19 east. This would be about 6 miles east of Dunnellon and not far from Withlacoochee River.
In the region about Dunnellon the mastodon Gomphotherium floridanum has been collected. For the list of species found at Dunnellon and in Withlacoochee River the reader may consult page 376.
19. Near San Pablo Beach, Duval County.—From station 120, on the Inland Waterway, near San Pablo Beach, Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 106) reported the discovery of a tooth of Mammut americanum in place in the bank of the canal. Remains of Elephas columbi and undetermined species of Bison and Odocoileus had been thrown out by the dredge.
4. Almero Farm, St. John County.—At the residence of Mr. Fred R. Allen, 113 King street, St. Augustine, Florida, the writer had the privilege of examining seven teeth of Mammut americanum which had been found near Mr. Allen’s farm, 28 miles south of St. Augustine, in the Inland Waterway Canal. At the same place Mr. Allen had found remains of a fossil horse, a mylodon, alligator, and a part of the plastron of Terrapene antipex. The deposits are to be regarded as belonging to some part of the first half of the Pleistocene, probably the first interglacial.
6. Daytona, Volusia County.—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 2150) is an upper left last molar of Mammut americanum, sent in August 1901 from Daytona by E. T. Conrad & Company. It had been found at a depth of 5 feet in an old oyster-bed which was being dug up for surfacing the streets. The locality is within the limits of the town and about 2 miles from the Atlantic coast. The senders reported a little later that they had found four other teeth, a piece of tusk 40 inches long and 7 inches in diameter, and about a bushel of bones and fragments. There appeared to be other bones in the pit, but nothing more is on record. Since that mastodon died there, the land appears to have been depressed beneath the sea, permitting the growth of the oyster-bed, after which there was again an elevation.
13. Fellsmere, St. Lucie County.—Dr. E. H. Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 105) stated that Mammut americanum, represented by a tooth or teeth, had been found at Fellsmere in connection with the construction of drainage canals.
7. Vero, St. Lucie County.—At this place have been found well-preserved remains of Mammut americanum. Besides a part of a lower jaw, there are some parts of tusks and fragments of other parts. The right side of a palate containing the second and the third true molars, found in what has been called stratum No. 2, has been figured by Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., plate XXXI). The age of these will be discussed on pages 381–384.
14. Palm Beach, Palm Beach County.—In his report of 1916, already cited, Dr. Sellards noted the fact, on page 105, that several teeth of Mammut americanum had been obtained by him, 8 miles west of the Florida East Coast Railroad, in the canal constructed to drain the Everglades. From the same canal had been secured Elephas columbi, Equus complicatus, and a femur of a species of Bison. Sellards informs us that the vertebrate fossils here, as at Vero and many other localities, are embedded in the sand and muck beds which lie above the Pleistocene marls.
8. Hillsboro County.—Remains of mastodon have been reported from various places in this county, but the localities have not been very exactly defined.
In the National Museum (No. 6726) is a lower left hindermost molar of Mammut americanum which was sent by Mr. W. L. Spitler, of Tampa. Exactly where it was found is not recorded. The tooth is white and well preserved. There are five cross-crests. The cones are unusually low, and such teeth may possibly represent an undescribed species.
At Heidelberg University, Tiffin, Ohio, the writer has seen a mastodon tooth, labeled as having come from Tampa Bay. The tooth is heavy and rock-like. A part of an atlas of the mastodon is from the same place.
In the collection of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, is a lower right last molar of a mastodon, labeled as having been found at Sulphur Springs, Hillsboro County. The writer has not found where this place is situated. All of the specimens mentioned belong to Mammut americanum.
9. Alafia River, Hillsboro County.—Dr. E. H. Sellards (7th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 112, fig. 45) records the finding of an upper right last molar of Mammut americanum in this river. The tooth is unworn and has four cross-crests and a large talon. It was preserved in the collection of S. A. Robinson. With a collection of teeth of Equus found in Alafia River and preserved in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, is a single cross-crest of Mammut americanum.
20. Brewster, Polk County.—In his report of 1915 (p. 106, fig. 36) Dr. E. H. Sellards figured a fragment of a tusk, found in a phosphate mine, which he supposed might belong to Gomphotherium floridanum. He figured also a tooth (p. 104, fig. 34) which he definitely referred to this species, but it is not clear that it was found at Brewster. A list of the species found associated with the tusk will be found on page 380. Among these species is Mammut progenium, a species ranging from the Aftonian to the Late Wisconsin. While all the species of the list are referred by Sellards to the Upper Miocene or Lower Pliocene, M. progenium appears to favor a later reference.
10. Pains Creek, Polk? County.—In the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, is a tooth of Mammut americanum recorded as having been found on Pains Creek, 50 miles from Tampa. It appears to be a second milk molar; the length is 43 mm., the width at the second crest likewise 43 mm.
There is a Big Pains Creek in the northwestern corner of Polk County, which empties into Peace Creek. A little further south is Little Pains Creek, which empties into Peace Creek in De Soto County, near Bowling Green. On which of these the tooth was found can not be determined.
11. Peace Creek, De Soto County.—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 1990) is an upper right hindermost molar recorded as having been found on Peace River. It was a part of the exhibit of the Plant System at the Centennial Exposition at Atlanta, Georgia. It is credited also to the Peace River Phosphate Company. Probably the tooth was found somewhere not far from Arcadia. Leidy (Bull. 84, U. S. Geol. Surv., p. 129) does not record the species from Arcadia, but his undetermined species of the genus may have been M. americanum.
The tooth mentioned above has five cross-crests and a conical talon. At the ends of the transverse valleys are large tubercles.