Dumbbell Harbor.—In 1877 (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. XX, p. 488), H. W. Fielden presented a paper on the post-Tertiary beds of Grinnell Land and north Greenland. He reported the discovery of a bone and a tooth of Ovibos moschatus and a bone of Phoca hispida in deposits at an elevation of 400 feet. This was in latitude 82° 30′ N. At another station, in latitude 82° 25′, Fielden procured fossil remains of Rangifer tarandus, Ovibos moschatus, and Phoca barbata. A report to the same effect was presented by Fielden and De Rance in 1878 (Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. XXXIV, p. 566).
1. Trenton, Mercer County.—In 1900 (Ann. Rep. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. for 1899, p. 16), Professor F. W. Putnam stated that Mr. Ernest Volk, of Trenton, had found in the Trenton gravels a part of the scapula of a musk-ox, now at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. The part present is that bearing the glenoid cavity. This report is reprinted on pages 248 to 249 of Volk’s “Archæology of the Delaware Valley” (Papers Peabody Mus., vol. V). On page 111 of this work, Mr. Volk gives an account of the discovery of the bone, and illustrates it by plates LXXXVI and LXXXVII. The bone was identified by Putnam, Matthew, Allen, Boas, Lambe, True, and Lucas. Inasmuch as the comparison must have been made with the scapulas of Ovibos moschatus, the fossil probably belonged to this species.
1. Pittston, Luzerne County.—In 1872 (Contrib. Ext. Fauna West. Terrs., p. 255, plate XXVIII, fig. 8), Leidy briefly described and figured a molar tooth which he referred to Bison latifrons. It had been found along the bank of Susquehanna River at Pittston, associated with the mastodon and a horse. Dr. J. A. Allen (Amer. Bisons, 1876, p. 12) expressed the opinion that the tooth belonged to some species of Ovibos. The present writer agrees that the tooth is not that of Bison. It seems to agree more nearly with teeth of Symbos cavifrons; but it differs from the teeth of that species in some respects. The writer has examined this tooth at the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia. It is worn almost to the roots and is 34 mm. long and 32 mm. thick at the base of the hinder lobe. It agrees in form more closely with the first molar of both Ovibos and Symbos; but it is much larger than the same tooth in Ovibos moschatus and somewhat larger than that of Symbos cavifrons. The inner face of the anterior lobe is much more rounded than in Symbos, and the inner face of the hinder lobe forms an angle with the hinder face, instead of rounding into it, as it does in Symbos cavifrons. The teeth appear to have been packed together more closely, on the lingual side, than in Bison, Symbos, and Ovibos. The tooth is probably worthy of being given a new name.
Mr. S. W. Rhoads has examined this tooth and concluded that it belonged to Bison bison. To this view it seems sufficient to say that in Bison teeth the outer face of each of the lobes is very convex and column-like, while the parastyle and especially the mesostyle are relatively small. In the Pittston tooth the mesostyle stands out beyond the outer face of the hinder lobe, and the latter is nearly flat; this is also the condition in Symbos. The writer will say further that the accessory column is not always present in teeth of Symbos.
2. Riegelsville, Bucks County.—Mr. Rhoads, as cited above, on pages 246 to 248, described a part of a horn-core of a bovine animal to which he applied the name Bison appalachicolus. Later (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1897, p. 492) he concluded that the horn-core had belonged to an animal of the genus Ovibos; and accordingly it bears the name O. appalachicolus. Leidy had in 1889 called attention to a collection of bones made in Durham Cave, near Riegelsville (Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv., Pennsylvania, for 1887, pp. 18–19). He recorded 20 species, all of which lived there or at most, not far away, when the country was discovered. These may have all entered the cave at a later period, but the musk-ox may have antedated the others. A list of these fossils is presented on page 311.
1. Urbana, Champaign County.—At Urbana, Ohio, in the possession of Mr. Charles McDarg, the writer has seen a skull of Symbos cavifrons which had been found on the farm of Ed. Jennings, while a ditch was being dug. It was buried in mud at a depth of 10 feet. This region is covered by the Wisconsin drift, and the animal must have lived not long after the ice had withdrawn from the neighborhood.
2. Youngstown, Mahoning County.—In the geological collection of the Ohio State University is a part of a skull of Ovibos moschatus secured at Youngstown. The specimen shows the base of the skull and the forehead. Between the bases of the horns is a narrow channel, characteristic of Ovibos. The specimen shows the effects of abrasion, the horn-cores being worn down to their bases. The specimen is said to have been found in gravel at a depth of 60 feet. It appears to have been presented in 1890 by H. McGinnis. It is probable that this skull was found along Mahoning River, but the elevation was, unfortunately, not given. The probability is that the deposits inclosing the fossil were laid down during the Wisconsin stage.
According to Leverett (Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., XLI, p. 149), the old trough of Beaver River was filled with gravel during the Wisconsin glacial stage, and this filling is now in process of excavation. The same is probably true of its tributary, the Mahoning. If the skull was buried in this gravel its age is thereby determined.
3. Trumbull County.—In 1853 (Smith. Contrib. Knowl., vol. V, art. 3, p. 16), Leidy stated that he had received, for inspection, from Professor Samuel St. John, of Hudson, Ohio, a fragment of a skull, with one horn-core attached, which had been found in Trumbull County. No further details were given as to the locality or of the geological conditions. The skull appeared to be much water-worn. It belongs to Symbos cavifrons. Trumbull County is wholly occupied by Wisconsin drift. The animal is, then, probably to be credited to the Late Wisconsin. It is possible, however, that this skull was found in an older deposit exposed in the valley of some stream.
Up to the present time it appears that remains of musk-oxen have been found in Michigan in only two localities, Manchester, Washtenaw County, and near Moorland, in Muskegon County. These remains belonged to two different genera, Symbos and Boötherium.
1. Manchester, Washtenaw County.—In No. 13 of the Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, pages 1–3, plates I, II, issued by the University of Michigan, November 12, 1915, Dr. E. C. Case reported the finding of a fine skull of Symbos cavifrons at a place near Manchester. This was given by Case as being about 3 miles northeast of Manchester, but Mr. Schlicht, owner of the farm, has sent the writer a description and plat of the section which show that the spot is situated about 0.5 mile northwest of the town. It is near the center of the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 1, township 4 south, range 3 east. A drain was being made in a swampy tract and the skull was found at a depth of 4 feet, lying on a bed of clay. This was covered by a black muck filled with plant remains and interrupted by a few thin layers of fine gravel.
The skull was in fine condition, but lacked the lower jaw. The spade of a workman struck the nose and injured the bones so that some parts were lost. The teeth were almost perfectly preserved.
The locality which furnished this skull is in the valley of the Raisin River. According to Leverett’s glacial map of Michigan (Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., LIII, plate VII), this valley crosses, at this point, the northern end of the Fort Wayne moraine. It is not improbable that this musk-ox lived when the foot of the ice-sheet was not far removed. Even in case the skull had gotten into a drainage channel it could not, because of its fine state of preservation, have been moved far from where the animal died. The circumstances appear to indicate that the skull had been left on the clayey bottom of a shallow pond of a tundra and become covered by the muck of a milder epoch.
2. Moorland, Muskegon County.—In 1908 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. XXXIV, p. 683, plate LXXIX), J. W. Gidley described, as belonging to a new species, Boötherium sargenti, a skull of a musk-ox found on the farm of Mr. Charles McKay, reported to be near Grand Rapids. Further inquiry showed that the farm is located near Moorland, in the northeast quarter of section 16, township 10 north, range 14 west. The skull was found in a marsh at a depth of 2 or 3 feet and lying beneath the pelvis of a mastodon. It and the mastodon are now preserved in the Kent Scientific Museum, at Grand Rapids, Michigan.
In 1915 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. XLVIII, p. 525, plate XXXI), the writer redescribed the specimen. Dr. J. A. Allen, in 1913 (Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. I, pp. 214, 215), referred to this skull and concluded that it had belonged to the female of Symbos cavifrons. The writer does not accept this opinion. He has examined more than 25 skulls of S. cavifrons, some of which must have been females. In none did the rough surfaces for the horns fail to meet at the midline as it does fail in the Moorland specimen.
The Moorland marsh is surrounded by what Leverett has called the Lake Border moraines. It is probable that this musk-ox existed there after, but not long after, the ice had withdrawn into Lake Michigan. From what is known about the habits of musk-oxen in general, we must conclude that the climate was yet cold.
The fact that the mastodon remains were so closely associated with the musk-ox skull does not prove that the animals lived there together. Near Alma, in Gratiot County, the late Charles A. Davis found mastodon bones in a peat-bog within a few inches of the surface. If by chance the pelvis of a modern horse or cow had fallen on that spot, it might easily have been pressed down into contact with those bones.
1. Wailesboro, Bartholomew County.—In the American Museum of Natural History, New York, is a portion of a skull of a musk-ox which the writer identifies as Symbos cavifrons. It is labeled as found along the East Fork of White River, in 1904, near Wailesboro, Bartholomew County, Indiana. This locality is about 45 miles east of south of Indianapolis. The skull is reported to have been washed out of a bank composed of alluvium which overlies from 10 to 20 feet of glacial gravel. It is also said that out of the same gravel a tooth of Elephas primigenius had been secured. It seems to be implied that the musk-ox skull came from the gravel; but the record is not clear. It was presented to the museum in New York by Dr. J. J. Edwards, of Columbus, Indiana. He is said to have been interested to some extent in collecting palæontological materials. It is likely that he depended on others for his knowledge of the origin of the skull.
The specimen presents the brain-case to the rear of the orbits, including the basioccipital bone and the bases of the horn-cores. It has been rolled somewhat and many ridges and processes have been eroded off. Measurements were given by the writer in his paper on the “Pleistocene Period in Indiana and its Vertebrata” (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXXVI, pp. 638–639). Dr. J. A. Allen (Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. I, p. 201) has examined this skull and concluded that it is not specifically determinable, but the writer, after re-examining the specimen, sees no reason for changing his original conclusion.
This skull was found within the area of Illinoian drift; but the border of the Wisconsin forms the high ground just east of the river. According to Leverett’s glacial map of Indiana (Monogr. LII, U. S. Geol. Surv., plate VI), the valley of the river is filled with sands and gravels resulting from glacial drainage, and this came mostly, if not all, from the Wisconsin ice. Most probably the animal which possessed this skull lived there at some time when the Wisconsin glacial ice was not far away.
2. Richmond, Wayne County.—In the collection at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, is the brain-case of a skull identified as that of Ovibos moschatus. This fragment was described and figured by the writer in 1912 (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXXVI, p. 641, plate IX, fig. 2). The skull was unearthed by some workmen in the vicinity of Richmond and put into the hands of Professor D. W. Dennis, who loaned it to the writer. It is referred to Ovibos moschatus, the species now existing in the Arctic region of North America. Possibly if we had more complete remains specific differences might be found.
This animal probably lived in the region about Richmond at a time when the Wisconsin moraine was yet lingering in Indiana and when the climate was yet severe.
3. Randolph County.—In the collection belonging to Earlham College is the rear portion of the skull of a musk-ox, identified as belonging to Symbos cavifrons. At what place in Randolph County it was found is not known. It had been somewhat eroded and injured. Measurements approximately correct were given by the writer in 1912 (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXXVI, p. 638). We may suppose that the animal lived in that region at some time during the last half of the Wisconsin stage.
4. Beaver Lake, Newton County.—In 1870, F. H. Bradley (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. IV, p. 229), reported that upon the bottom of Beaver Lake, just east of the State line, since the lake had been partially drained, skeletons of Mastodon and Boötherium had been found by Dr. H. M. Keyzer, of Momence, Illinois, and others. Unfortunately, we do not know what became of these valuable materials. Probably the “Boötherium” was the animal now known as Symbos cavifrons, inasmuch as it is far more abundant than any other species of musk-ox. If any parts of the skeleton of this musk-ox were really found the loss is great, inasmuch as very few bones have ever been discovered.
The time when the mastodon and the musk-ox lived about Beaver Lake must have been after the withdrawal of the Wisconsin glacial sheet beyond that region. For remarks on this locality see page 96. The name Beaver Lake has disappeared from the maps, but it was in township 30 north, range 9 west.
5. Hebron, Porter County.—In the American Museum of Natural History is a nearly complete skull of the musk-ox known as Symbos cavifrons, collected about 6 miles east of Hebron. It was found by workmen while making excavations for a railroad bridge. The exact location is given as section 16, township 33 north, range 6 west, in the marshy lands just north of Kankakee River. The depth was about 7 feet and the deposit was described as a mixture of sand and clay. Doubtless the animal died near the spot where its skull was found, inasmuch as this had undergone little injury.
This skull was described and figured by the writer in 1912 (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXXVI, pp. 635–638, figs. 49, 50) and in 1914 (Iowa Geol. Surv., vol. XXIII, pp. 299–302, figs. 98, 99); also by Dr. J. A. Allen (Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. I, p. 214, plates XVII, XVIII).
On Leverett’s glacial map of Indiana this region is represented as being occupied by sand and gravel deposits resulting from glacial drainage. The musk-ox must have lived after the foot of the glacier had withdrawn nearly to the end of Lake Michigan.
1. Bondville, Champaign County.—In the collection of the University of Illinois, at Champaign, is the rear portion of the skull with the horn-cores of a specimen of Symbos cavifrons. It is reported as found on the farm of John Busey, southwest of Champaign and 4 miles from Bondville. Professor S. A. Forbes informed the writer that the locality is in section 31, township 19 north, range 8 east. No details are known regarding the conditions under which the skull was found. The region is occupied by the Champaign moraine and it was after the retirement of the ice from this moraine that the animal lived. It may, however, have been not long after that time.
2. Manito, Mason County.—Mr. John Wiedmer, of St. Louis, presented to the U. S. National Museum (No. 7800) the rear half of the skull of a specimen of Symbos cavifrons found near Manito, at a depth of 5 feet, by workmen who were cutting out peat. A tooth of a mastodon, Mammut americanum, sent with the skull, is said to have been embedded in the upper part of the sand which underlies the peat. The skull was reported as found at about the same depth, but it was quite certainly not in the sand.
The exact location of the skull was in section 22, township 23 north, range 6 east, within the area of the Illinoian drift-sheet, but the Wisconsin drift is not far away. The valley of the Illinois River in this county is mapped by Leverett as occupied by sands and gravels of Wisconsin age. Probably the animal lived when the Wisconsin ice-sheet was not far distant.
The skull described apparently belonged to a rather small, perhaps not fully grown individual. For purposes of comparison with other skulls, as the one found at St. Louis, Missouri, and the one found at Hebron, Indiana (p. 252), the following measurements have been taken of this skull:
| mm. | |
|---|---|
| From tip to tip of horn-cores | 437 |
| Height of rear of skull from bottom of condyles | 168 |
| Width across the mastoid region | 183 |
| Width between hinder ends of temporal fossæ | 117 |
| Width at space between bases of horn-cores and orbits | 127 |
| Width at the rear border of orbits | 231 |
| Length of rough surface of forehead, at midline | 200 |
| Fore-and-aft width of base of horn-core | 98 |
| Vertical thickness of base of horn-core | 78 |
| From front of foramen magnum to rear of nasal bones | 260 |
The exostosis between the bases of the horn-cores is longitudinally deeply excavated, the excavation being 50 mm. wide and 27 mm. deep. The tips of the horn-cores come forward only even with the rear border of the orbits. In some other cases the horn-cores come forward to the front, or even in advance of the front border of the orbits. It is possible that this Manito skull was that of a cow.
3. Alton, Madison County.—In a collection of fossil mammals made at Alton by William McAdams and now in the U. S. National Museum is a single tooth, a lower left second molar, referred with some doubt to Symbos promptus. The crown is 34 mm. long and 25 mm. wide at the base. The tooth has been described briefly by the writer (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. LVIII, p. 115). A list of the species accompanying it will be found on page 339.
1. Mahan, Brooke County.—In 1902 (Science, n. s., vol. XVI, pp. 707–709, fig.), J. B. Hatcher reported the finding of a part of a skull of Symbos cavifrons at a point in Brooke County, somewhat over a mile below Steubenville, Ohio. The locality is further defined as being the sand-pit of the Steubenville Sand Company, on the Thomas Mahan farm, on the east side of the Wheeling branch of the “Panhandle” Railroad. The details regarding the locality were furnished by Mr. Sam Huston. The sand-pit was located in the glacial terrace which rises about 70 feet above low-water mark and from about 35 to 40 feet above high-water. The river has never been known to rise as high as to the spot where the skull was found. It had doubtless been brought down by the waters which built up the terrace. These waters probably came from the Wisconsin ice-sheet. The skull is now in the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburgh.
The interesting geology of this region is described on page 355.
1. Natchez.—The first notice of the occurrence of any species of the Ovibovinæ at Natchez seems to be the inclusion of Symbos (Boötherium) cavifrons in Leidy’s list of fossil Mammalia found in the State of Mississippi (Wailles’s Rep. Agric. Geol. Mississippi, 1854, p. 269), but the locality is not mentioned. The occurrence of the species in the State was not mentioned by Leidy in 1853 in his “Memoir on Extinct Species of Fossil Ox” (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. V, art. 3). Leidy’s list mentioned above was quoted by Hilgard in 1860 (Agric. Geol. Mississippi, p. 196). In neither place was any statement made regarding the part preserved. In his “Memoir on the Extinct Sloth Tribe of North America,” published in 1855 (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. VII, art. 5, p. 6), Leidy stated that Boötherium had been found at Natchez. Five years later (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1870, p. 73) Leidy reported that an isolated tooth, a last lower molar not yet protruded from the jaw, had been received from Natchez and was preserved in the museum of the Philadelphia Academy. On comparison with a last molar in a jaw of a supposed Ovibos cavifrons received at the Smithsonian Institution and found near Woodbine, Iowa, Leidy concluded that the Natchez tooth belonged to the same species. Probably he had already based on this tooth the announcement of the presence of this species at Natchez. At least, the writer knows of no other parts of Symbos cavifrons found at Natchez, and he has seen neither the tooth from Natchez nor the jaw from Woodbine, Iowa.
Leidy stated that the tooth in question had a height of 2.25 inches, a length antero-posteriorly of 2 inches.
1. Bigbone Lick, Boone County.—In his account of Bigbone Lick and the collections made there (Monthly Amer. Jour. Geol., vol. I, pp. 158–174, 205–217), William Cooper included in his list of species both Bos bombifrons (Boötherium bombifrons) and Bos pallasii (Symbos cavifrons). Already in 1818 Wistar (Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., ser. 2, vol. I, p. 379, plate XI, figs. 10, 11) had described, without systematic name, the skull which later was made the type of Bos bombifrons by Harlan (Fauna Amer., p. 271). This skull was a part of the collection made at Bigbone Lick by Governor William Clark for President Thomas Jefferson. In the account presented by Cooper (p. 173) he stated that in the Finnell (sometimes spelled Phinnell) collection, made in 1830, he had found a second head of the species, but what became of it is not known. Harlan, as cited (p. 272), stated that in the collection of fossils made at Bigbone Lick by Major Long were teeth which probably belonged to the musk-ox. They differed little from those of the bison, but were thicker at the crown, more deeply grooved at the sides, and altogether more robust. In 1870 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., p. 97), Dr. Leidy mentioned that in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, in Cambridge, he had seen a skull of Symbos cavifrons which Professor Shaler had collected at Bigbone Lick. The present writer has seen this skull. A list of the species found at this locality is recorded on page 403.
2. Bluelick Springs?, Nicholas County.—In the collection at Yale University is the hinder part of a skull of Symbos cavifrons, bought in 1876 from Henry Ward, Rochester, and labeled as found in the Bluelick region. The locality is not more definitely known.
3. Winchester, Clark County.—In the U. S. National Museum is a part of the rear of the skull of Symbos cavifrons labeled as found at Winchester. It is credited to J. W. Fitch. It shows well the condyles, some of the base of the skull, and the base of the right horn-core.
Besides the remains above described a part of a cranium of Symbos cavifrons from Kentucky is preserved in the Boston Society of Natural History. Leidy (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. V, art. 3, p. 16) stated that it had been found in the alluvium of Kentucky River.