1. Toronto.—In the Guide Book No. 6, issued by the Ontario Bureau of Mines in 1913, and prepared by Professor A. P. Coleman, it is recorded on page 18 that in the Don beds at Toronto, supposed to belong to the Sangamon stage, had been found bones of a deer resembling those of the Virginia deer. On page 29 deer bones are reported as found in other beds situated in the western part of Toronto. The age of these is uncertain; they may be older than the Don beds or younger than the Scarboro beds. In these same beds have been found also a lower jaw of a bear, possibly Ursus americanus; an atlas of a bison, a part of an antler of Cervalces borealis, and some parts of either a mastodon or a mammoth.
The geology of the Pleistocene in the region about Toronto is treated on pages 281 to 283, figure 3.
1. Orange County.—Emmons, in 1858 (Geol. Surv. North Carolina, East. Counties, p. 201), stated he had found, in a fresh-water marl-bed in Orange County, a horn of an extinct deer, associated with remains of mastodon. The exact locality is unknown.
2. Greenville, Greene County.—In 1846 (Boston Jour. Nat. Hist., vol. V, p. 390), James Hall mentioned the finding of a jawbone, with teeth, of a deer in Greene County. It was associated with remains of a mastodon.
3. Cuba, Allegany County.—In 1843 (Geol. 4th Dist., p. 367), Hall reported that an engineer of the Genesee Valley Canal informed him that near New Hudson, 4 miles from Cuba, several antlers of deer and one of an elk had been found 12 feet below the surface, in a muck deposit. New Hudson appears to be about 10 miles north of Cuba, and not on the canal. The locality is said to be at the summit of the canal.
4. Hinsdale, Cattaraugus County.—James Hall (op. cit., pp. 364, 366) stated that a tusk, supposed to belong to a mastodon, with some horns of deer, had been found at Hinsdale in sand and gravel, 16 feet below the surface. Clarke (Bull. 69, N. Y. State Mus., p. 933) suggested that these may have been antlers of the elk.
There appear to be no good reasons for suspecting that any of the deer remains found in New York are older than Late Wisconsin.
1. Woodstown, Salem County.—In the palæontological collection at Yale University is a fragment of an antler of a deer, most probably of Odocoileus virginianus, discovered in Salem County. It is not accompanied by any information as to the exact locality where found or as to the conditions of burial. The fragment of the shaft is 135 mm. long, and from it springs a tine, the partial length of which is about 45 mm.
2. Vincentown, Burlington County.—In the collection of the Academy of Natural Science at Philadelphia are some fragments of antlers labeled as having been found at Vincentown.
In 1869 (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., vol. VII, p. 376), Dr. Joseph Leidy stated that remains of the deer had been found in Burlington and Monmouth Counties, but no exact localities were mentioned. Many of the specimens seem to have been found, as accidental occupants, in marl-beds of Cretaceous age. In the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia there are specimens from Pemberton.
3. Deal, Monmouth County.—In the Academy’s collection, at Philadelphia, there is a specimen labeled as having been found at this place. No details are recorded.
1. Stroudsburg, Monroe County.—In 1889 (Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Pennsylvania for 1887, p. 6), Dr. Joseph Leidy reported on a collection which many years before had been found in Hartman’s Cave, near Stroudsburg. Nearly all the species still exist, but in the collection was included Castoroides and Rangifer. Among the fossils were jawbones, with teeth, and broken bones of the Virginia deer. It seems possible that the remains had collected there at the close of the Pleistocene; but some may belong to the Recent.
2. Frankstown, Blair County.—In 1908 (Ann. Carnegie Mus., vol. IV, p. 231), Dr. W. J. Holland reported the discovery of remains of a deer, possibly Odocoileus virginianus, in a cave at Frankstown. With this deer were many other species of mammals. A list is presented on page 321.
1. New Knoxville, Auglaize County.—In his “History of Ohio and of Auglaize County,” 1905, on page 338, C. W. Williamson, in describing the finding of a skull of Castoroides near New Knoxville, stated that some bones of the deer had been found in what was believed to have been the house of the giant beaver. They were supposed to have been brought there by carnivorous animals; but the deer may have died there before the house was covered up.
1. Adrian, Lenawee County.—In 1880 the U. S. National Museum received from Professor Kost, then of Adrian College, a skull of Castoroides ohioensis discovered at the place named above. In his communication he wrote that at the same place there had been found previously a mastodon and bones of an elk and of a deer. The place was in a marsh, in Adrian, and the fossils were at a depth of 4 feet.
2. Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County.—In 1908, Russell and Leverett (Folio 155, U. S. Geol. Surv., p. 9) reported the discovery of bones of deer and elk in a peat-swamp, 3 miles south of Ann Arbor. In the same swamp had been found, at a depth of 5 feet, a skull of Castoroides ohioensis. The bones of the deer and elk were at a somewhat higher level, so that it is not wholly certain they belong to the Pleistocene.
The specimens found both at Adrian and Ann Arbor lived there after the retreat of the Wisconsin ice.
1. Evansville, Vanderburg County.—In a collection of bones and teeth made at the mouth of Pigeon Creek, a short distance below Evansville, and described by Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1854, pp. 199–200) were included remains of the Virginia deer. With these bones were parts of the skeleton of Megalonyx jeffersonii, a bison of probably an extinct species, a cervical vertebra of the horse known as Equus complicatus, a tooth of a tapir, and the type upper jaw of the extinct wolf Ænocyon dirus.
On page 32 is discussed the age of the bone-bed. It is concluded that it belonged possibly to the Aftonian stage, but more probably to the Sangamon. Although this species of deer yet exists, abundant remains of a species not yet distinguishable from it are found in early Pleistocene deposits in Florida and elsewhere. According to D. D. Owen (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. VII, art. V, p. 7), this deer was found associated with megalonyx bones a few miles below Henderson, Kentucky. Also, these two species, together with Equus complicatus and an extinct species of Bison and other extinct species of mammals, have been exhumed at Bigbone Lick, halfway between Louisville and Cincinnati, on the Kentucky side.
Under this number may be considered the deer Odocoileus dolichopsis, which Cope described in 1878 (Amer. Naturalist, vol. XII, p. 189). This was represented by a left ramus of the mandible, found, as reported by the State geologist, John Collett, in a late lacustrine deposit in Vanderburg County. In the same deposits was found an ulno-radius of a species of Bison. The deer jaw was further described and figured by Cope and Wortman in 1884 (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XIV, p. 22, plate ii). Here, in quoting Cope’s description found in volume IV of Bulletins U. S. Geological Survey, page 379, the authors substituted Harrison County for Vanderburg County. In 1912 (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXXVI, p. 615), the present writer accepted Cope and Wortman’s statement as to the county; but it appears that the locality was really in Vanderburg County. Cope and Wortman’s plate was reproduced by the writer in 1912 (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXXVI, p. 615, plate VI, figs. 2, 2b). Figure 1 of the plate represents a part of an upper jaw which may or may not belong to the same species. It was supposed to have been found in the same deposits.
2. Harrisville, Randolph County.—In the collection at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, the writer has examined some bones which apparently belonged to the Virginia deer, Odocoileus virginianus. The distal end of the radius, a right calcaneum, and a sacrum have been identified. These were found in a swamp known as “The Dismal,” situated about 6 miles nearly east of Winchester. This would not be far from the village of Harrisville. In this swamp were collected the fine specimen of the giant beaver, preserved at Earlham College, and the bones of an elk. The swamp is located near the Union City moraine, and the animals buried there must have lived at some time after the retirement of the Wisconsin ice-sheet; probably the time was long enough after that retirement for the climate to become relatively mild.
3. Roann, Wabash County.—In 1892 (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XVII, p. 241), Elrod and Benedict reported that in 1882 a Mr. Rantz, while digging a ditch on the farm of William Runkle, 3 miles north of Roann, unearthed, at a depth of 9 feet, the antlers and part of the skeleton of the deer Odocoileus virginianus. The locality is evidently north of Eel River and near the southern border of the great moraine which runs parallel with this stream and north of it. Undoubtedly this deer lived after the Wisconsin ice had withdrawn from the vicinity. In similar situations in that region have been found several mastodons. It is probable, therefore, that the deer belonged to the late Pleistocene.
From Mr. B. E. Galtry, of Roann, the writer learns that Mr. Runkle informed him that none of the bones found has been preserved. There were many found, shin-bones, ribs, and antlers, from 3 to 4 feet below the surface. Large numbers of poles were found, and the ditch diggers got the notion that these poles had formed a bridge.
1. Niantic, Macon County.—In 1873, Worthen, State geologist of Illinois, reported (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. V, p. 308) that he had found some deer bones in a bog near Niantic; with them were remains of the mastodon, buffalo, and elk. What is known regarding the locality and the geology is here recorded on page 102. All these remains were probably buried near the close of the Wisconsin glacial stage.
2. Whitewillow, Kendall County.—In Netta C. Anderson’s list, page 11. E. S. Riggs, assistant curator of palæontology in Field Museum of Natural History, reported that in 1902 Mr. John Bamford, in enlarging a spring in a bog, encountered a layer of about 2 feet of bison, deer, and elk bones at a depth of about 5 feet. With these were found skulls of at least 6 mastodons. From Mr. George Langford, of Joliet, the writer has received a base of a large antler and a nearly complete small antler of the right side. These are not to be distinguished from those of O. virginianus. Mr. Langford wrote that the mastodon bones were mingled with the other bones to the bottom of the pit dug. In the same excavation were found remains of mastodon, Cervalces, the existing moose, the elk, the buffalo, and the cannon-bone of a large sheep-like animal. The exact levels in which these bones occurred is not known. The reader may consult page 109.
3. Ottawa, La Salle County.—J. D. Caton (“Antelopes and Deer of North America,” p. 227) tells of having found a nearly complete skeleton and three antlers of the Virginia deer in the valley of Fox River, near Ottawa. These remains were in a stratum of gravel at a depth of more than 16 feet. Over this was the surface loam, then sand, sand and clay, then more sand. It seems probable that these deposits belonged to the Late Wisconsin.
4. Evanston, Cook County.—Dr. Frank C. Baker (Univ. Ills. Bull, XVII, pp. 4, 86) presented a geological section taken in the Toleston beach at Evanston. This beach was laid down after the withdrawal of the Wisconsin ice. At the depth of about 9 feet was found a bone of a deer. In 1891, W. K. Higley (Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., vol. II, No. 1, p. XIV) reported that a pelvis, referred to a deer, had been found in Late Wisconsin deposits at Evanston. He had in mind the bone found in Toleston beach. At the same place was found a femur of a deer at a depth of 9 feet (Leverett, Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci. Geol. Nat. Hist. Surv., II, 1897, pp. 76, 77). Apparently the femur and the pelvis had been discovered by Dr. Oliver Marcy in 1864, from whom both Leverett and Baker quote the geological section.
5. Lemont, Cook County.—Dr. F. C. Baker (op. cit., pp. 56, 89) reported the finding of a portion of a skull of Odocoileus virginianus and a skull of the muskrat in the Des Plaines Valley, at Lemont, in a bed of peat.
1. Lead region.—In 1862 (Geol. Surv. Wisconsin, p. 421), Jeffries Wyman, in his report on the vertebrate animals found by J. D. Whitney, stated that there was a series of several molar teeth which, in form and size, corresponds exactly with those of the red deer (Cervus virginianus). He mentioned also various bones which seemed to belong to the same species, but some were larger than those of the Virginia deer.
In 1876 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XI, p. 49), Allen described as a new species Cervus whitneyi, basing the name on a left humerus, a left radius, and a right metatarsal found in the Whitney collection. It appears probable that these bones are those mentioned by Wyman as being larger than the existing Virginia deer and the mule deer. Allen does not, however, mention what Wyman wrote. Allen’s species is now referred to the genus Odocoileus. It is not stated by either Wyman or Allen even from what State the remains were secured. It is most probable that it was Wisconsin.
From the Pleistocene of that region two species of Odocoileus are therefore known, O. virginianus and O. whitneyi.
2. Menomonie, Dunn County.—In a letter to the author dated January 21, 1917, Dr. S. Weidman, State geologist of Wisconsin, noted that a vertebra of a deer had been found in brick clay at Menomonie. It was sent to the American Museum of New York and identified by Dr. W. D. Matthew. This clay is at present regarded by Dr. Weidman as probably belonging to the Sangamon interglacial.
1. Oxford Neck, Talbot County.—In 1869 (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. XI, p. 178), Cope reported that fragments of antlers not distinguishable from those of the Virginia deer, Odocoileus virginianus, had been found on the farm of Lambert Kirby, in Oxford Neck. These, with remains of other vertebrates, were placed in the Baltimore Academy of Sciences.
2. Cavetown, Washington County.—In 1920 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. LVIII, p. 104), the writer described the distal end of two radii found at Cavetown in a fissure in a limestone quarry. These were associated with remains of 24 other species of vertebrates, mostly mammals. The radii appeared to be those of Odocoileus virginianus. Another deer, Sangamona fugitiva, was found in the same fissure.
A list of the accompanying species is given on page 348.
1. Saltville, Smyth County.—Mr. O. A. Peterson (Ann. Carnegie Mus., vol. XI, p. 474, fig. 7) reported the finding of an astragalus of some deer-like animal at Saltville. He states that the bone agrees with that of Odocoileus virginianus, but is larger. To the present writer the bone is not only too large to be that of the Virginia deer, but is relatively too narrow, it being assumed that Peterson’s figure is correct. In both the Virginia deer and the elk the width of the bone is about 70 per cent of the greatest length, while the figure given is only 60 per cent as wide as long. It is not improbable that the animal belonged to another genus.
2. Ivanhoe, Wythe County.—In 1869 (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. XI, p. 176) Cope stated that molars and other fragments of Cariacus (Odocoileus) virginianus were abundant in the cave breccia which he examined. A list of the accompanying species will be found on page 353.
1. Wood County.—In 1835 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XXIX, p. 147), Hildreth stated that bones of a deer had been found in this county, then a part of Virginia, involved in the travertine on the floor of the cave. No facts are known that give any clue to the geological age of these bones. They probably belong to some early or middle stage of the Pleistocene.
1. On Neuse River, Pamlico County, 16 Miles below Newbern.—According to both Croom (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XXVII, 1835, p. 168) and Harlan (op. cit., vol. XLIII, 1842, p. 143), remains of deer had been found at this locality. For want of more exact information we may refer them to Odocoileus virginianus. On page 359 will be found a list of the species collected here.
1. Charleston, Charleston County.—Numerous fragmentary remains of Odocoileus have been found in the region about Charleston. F. S. Holmes, as early as 1859 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1859, p. 177), announced the discovery of remains of deer in the vicinity of Charleston. Leidy (Holmes’s Post-Pliocene Foss. South Carolina, p. 109, plate XX, figs. 1–4) stated that the collections of Professor Holmes and Captain Bowman contained fragments of antlers, portions of jaws, and teeth which had been found in the Post-Pliocene beds of Ashley River. Leidy concluded these remains did not differ from the corresponding parts of the existing white-tailed deer (O. virginianus). Many fragments of antlers belong in the Scanlan collection at Yale University. They are thoroughly fossilized and are hard and heavy.
In the Charleston Museum (No. 1047) is an anterior cannon-bone of a deer, but no definite locality is recorded. It is black and apparently phosphatized, as are the numerous fragments of antlers found in the private collections at Charleston. The cannon-bone mentioned is 188 mm. long.
While the materials so far discovered do not enable us to distinguish the deer remains found about Charleston from Odocoileus virginianus, it is not improbable that they belonged in reality to another species, some perhaps to the Floridan Pleistocene species O. sellardsiæ.
Antlers of the white-tailed or Virginia deer are common in the collections about Charleston. In the Scanlan collection are bases of antlers of adult bucks and two simple spikes of young deer. One base is different from the others in being much flattened in one border, probably the one on which the first tine arose. It is possible that it represents a distinct species.
2. Darlington, Darlington County.—In 1848, Tuomey (Rep. Geol. South Carolina, pp. 177–180) stated that on the land of a Rev. Mr. Campbell, somewhere in the vicinity of Darlington, he had found fragments of the horns of a deer. He regarded the beds as belonging to the Pliocene. In the neighborhood, in a similar deposit, had been found molars of Mastodon maximus (=Mammut americanum). Both species may belong to the early Pleistocene.
1. Pablo Beach, Duval County.—Dr. Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 106) reported remains of Odocoileus found at station 120 of the Inland Waterway Canal, about 5 miles south of Pablo Beach. Further mention is made of this on page 374.
2. Neals, Alachua County.—In his eighth report (page 94) Sellards stated that at Neals, near Newberry, teeth had been collected which probably belonged to a species of Odocoileus. These were found while phosphate rock was being mined; but they, with a tooth of a tapir and one of Equus littoralis, doubtless belong to the early Pleistocene.
3. Archer, Alachua County.—In 1896 Leidy (Trans. Wagner Free Instit., vol. IV, p. X), in a note on the species of vertebrates found in the Alachua clays, included among these a tapir, a mastodon, and a megatherium. In his list furnished for Dr. W. H. Dall’s report (Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. No. 84, p. 129), is included Cervus virginianus?. The tapir, the deer, and the megatherium have been regarded as Pleistocene fossils which became mixed with those of the Pliocene. For that reason Odocoileus is here credited to Archer. See also Sellards’s conclusion (6th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 162). It is not certain exactly where the species above named were found. One locality mentioned by Leidy is 10 miles south of Archer, now Williston; another is 10 miles north of the same town, now Newberry. For the geological age of the species found at Archer, consult page 375.
4. Ocala, Marion County.—From a fissure in a limestone rock at Ocala, Sellards (8th Ann. Rep., p. 103) secured some remains of Odocoileus, but it was not determined to what species they belonged.
5. Dunnellon, Marion County.—The writer (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 43, plate VIII, figs. 3–5) described some teeth of a deer found near Dunnellon, in the “Cullens river mine.” These were referred provisionally to the species or subspecies now living in that region, Odocoileus osceola.
6. Palmetto, Manatee County.—In a small collection of fossil vertebrates sent from this place by Mr. Ernest Leitzel to the U. S. National Museum for identification were some fragments of antlers of Odocoileus.
7. Palma Sola, Manatee County.—From Mr. Charles T. Earle the U. S. National Museum received, in 1921, many fragments of antlers found on the beach at Palma Sola, about 10 miles below Palmetto and on the south side of Manatee River. With these came teeth of Equus leidyi, E. complicatus, E. littoralis, teeth and bone of Bison latifrons?, a tooth of Elephas columbi, and a fragment of the beak of a ziphoid porpoise. The last and various sharks’ teeth probably originated in Miocene deposits not far away. A list of the species found at this place and believed to belong to the Pleistocene is presented on page 379.
8. Arcadia, De Soto County.—In 1889 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1889, p. 96; U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. 84, p. 129), Leidy reported the discovery of antlers of deer, Odocoileus (Cervus) virginianus, at Arcadia. These may have belonged to O. osceola or O. sellardsiæ. In 1884 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. VI, p. 428), Mr. S. T. Walker reported the finding of fossils, among them fragments of deer antlers, on sand-bars in Peace River, from a point about where the town of Hull now is to a point 8 miles by land above Fort Ogden, apparently not far from the present town of Owens. On this matter see Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 109). This locality and its fossils are further described on page 381.
9. Vero, St. Lucie County.—Numerous remains belonging to one or two species of Odocoileus have been found at Vero. Fragments of various parts of the skeleton and some teeth have been found in the two upper strata, No. 2 and No. 3, which lie above the marine marl. The writer (9th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., 1917, pp. 50–57, plate III, fig. 3) referred some of these bones to the new species, O. sellardsiæ. Possibly only this species is represented at that locality, but probably some of the bones belong to O. osceola. Lists of the species found in the two deposits bearing fossil vertebrates will be found on pages 381 to 383.
1. Natchez, Adams County.—Dr. Leidy wrote (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1854, p. 199) as follows:
“Fossil bones of a deer not larger than the Cervus virginianus have been found in association with bones of the Megalonyx, Mastodon, etc., in the vicinity of Natchez, Mississippi. In the cabinet of the Academy mentioned there are several specimens from the locality, consisting of a portion of a lower jaw, a fragment of an antler, and the posterior and inferior portions of two crania.”
The geology of this important locality is discussed on pages 389 to 393.
2. Aberdeen, Monroe County.—In 1869 (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci., ser. 2, vol. VII, p. 376), Leidy stated that remains of a deer had been found at this place in a railroad cutting. No details were given.
Whitesburg, Hamblen County.—In 1920 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, vol. LVIII, pp. 85–95), the writer described bones and teeth of Pleistocene animals which had been found at Whitesburg. A list of the species is given on page 395. In the collection are 21 teeth which were referred to Odocoileus virginianus, but their small size suggests that they may belong to another species of deer.
Nashville, Davidson County.—On page 201 is presented an account of a collection made at Nashville. Among the fossils was an antler of a deer which is referred by the writer to an undetermined species of Odocoileus (p. 399).
1. Bigbone Lick, Boone County.—The bones and teeth of the Virginian deer have been reported with some doubt from Bigbone Lick; even if found it is not certain that they belonged to Pleistocene deposits.
2. Bluelick Springs, Nicholas County.—In the collection made in cleaning out Bluelick Springs, in Nicholas County, remains of a deer were secured. The geological age of these can not be determined with certainty, but they were probably of Late Wisconsin time. For a list of the associated species see page 405.
3. Henderson, Henderson County.—In a letter to Dr. Joseph Leidy, published by the latter (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. VII, art. 5, p. 7), Dr. D. D. Owen stated that many antlers and bones of deer had been found about 6 miles below Henderson, associated with bones of Megalonyx jeffersonii.