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

By Oliver Perry Hay

The writer has been engaged for several years on an investigation of the Pleistocene geology of North America and of the Vertebrata which have been discovered in the deposits of this epoch. At the outset the writer was convinced that, before just conclusions could be reached, it was necessary to know what fossil materials had been collected and under what geological and geographical conditions. He therefore made as thorough a search as possible of the literature for reports of discoveries of fossil vertebrates. In order to show the geographical distribution of the most important species that occur in considerable numbers, a series of maps has been prepared. Where the map of a State has become too crowded with numerals, a special map of that State for that species or genus has been prepared. There are maps of the edentates in Florida; mastodons of Indiana, of New York, of Ohio, of Michigan, of Florida; Elephas columbi in Florida; Elephas imperator in Florida; horses in Florida.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DigiCat
• Release date: Jun 13, 2022
• ISBN: 8596547068099

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Oliver Perry Hay

The Pleistocene of North America and its vertebrated animals

From the states east of the Mississippi River and from the Canadian provinces east of longitude 95°

EAN 8596547068099

DigiCat, 2022

Contact: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

PREFACE.

CONCLUSIONS REGARDING THE DIVISIONS OF THE PLEISTOCENE.

I. Limits of the Pleistocene.

II. The Blanco Pliocene.

III. The Historical Divisions of the Pleistocene.

IV. Elevations of the Continent Immediately Preceding or Accompanying the Opening of the Pleistocene.

V. Connections with Asia and South America.

VI. The Sources of the Vertebrates of the Pleistocene.

VII. The Richness of the Pleistocene Vertebrate Life.

VIII. On Evolution During the Pleistocene.

IX. Did the Extinction of Species Take Place Mostly at the End of the Pleistocene?

X. The Stratigraphical and Time Limits of the Earliest Pleistocene.

XI. The First Interglacial, or Aftonian, Stage.

XII. The Yarmouth Interglacial Stage.

XIII. The Illinoian Glacial Stage.

XIV. The Sangamon Interglacial Stage.

XV. The Peorian Interglacial Stage.

XVI. The Wisconsin Glacial Stage and the Wabash Beds.

XVII. On the Theory of the Pleistocene Terraces of the Coastal Plain.

FINDS OF PLEISTOCENE CETACEANS IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

ONTARIO.

QUEBEC.

NEW BRUNSWICK.

VERMONT.

NORTH CAROLINA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEORGIA.

FLORIDA.

FINDS OF PLEISTOCENE PINNIPEDIA IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

GRINNELL LAND.

NOVA SCOTIA.

NEW BRUNSWICK.

QUEBEC.

ONTARIO.

MAINE.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

MASSACHUSETTS.

NEW JERSEY.

VIRGINIA.

NORTH CAROLINA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

FINDS OF XENARTHRA IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

VIRGINIA.

WEST VIRGINIA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEORGIA.

FLORIDA.

ALABAMA.

MISSISSIPPI.

TENNESSEE.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF PLEISTOCENE MASTODONS IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

ONTARIO.

CAPE BRETON ISLAND.

MASSACHUSETTS.

CONNECTICUT.

NEW YORK.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

MICHIGAN.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

WISCONSIN.

MARYLAND.

VIRGINIA.

WEST VIRGINIA.

NORTH CAROLINA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEORGIA.

FLORIDA.

ALABAMA.

MISSISSIPPI.

TENNESSEE.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF ELEPHAS PRIMIGENIUS IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

ONTARIO.

NEW YORK.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

MICHIGAN.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

WISCONSIN.

MARYLAND.

VIRGINIA.

NORTH CAROLINA.

FLORIDA.

TENNESSEE.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF ELEPHAS COLUMBI IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

ONTARIO.

VERMONT.

NEW YORK.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

MICHIGAN.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

MARYLAND.

WEST VIRGINIA.

NORTH CAROLINA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEORGIA.

FLORIDA.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF ELEPHAS IMPERATOR IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

FLORIDA.

ALABAMA.

FINDS OF ELEPHANTS OF UNDETERMINED SPECIES IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

UNGAVA.

ONTARIO.

VERMONT.

NEW YORK.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

MICHIGAN.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

WISCONSIN.

MARYLAND AND DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

VIRGINIA.

WEST VIRGINIA.

NORTH CAROLINA.

FLORIDA.

MISSISSIPPI.

TENNESSEE.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF PLEISTOCENE EQUIDÆ IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

MASSACHUSETTS.

NEW YORK.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

MARYLAND AND DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

VIRGINIA.

WEST VIRGINIA.

NORTH CAROLINA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEORGIA.

FLORIDA.

ALABAMA.

MISSISSIPPI.

TENNESSEE.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF PLEISTOCENE TAPIRIDÆ IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

INDIANA.

MARYLAND.

VIRGINIA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEORGIA.

FLORIDA.

MISSISSIPPI.

TENNESSEE.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF RHINOCEROSES IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

FLORIDA.

FINDS OF PLEISTOCENE PECCARIES IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

NEW YORK.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

MICHIGAN.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

WISCONSIN.

MARYLAND.

VIRGINIA.

WEST VIRGINIA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

FLORIDA.

TENNESSEE.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF PLEISTOCENE CAMELIDÆ IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

PENNSYLVANIA.

FLORIDA.

TENNESSEE.

FINDS OF PLEISTOCENE DEER OF THE GENUS ODOCOILEUS IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

ONTARIO.

NEW YORK.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

MICHIGAN.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

WISCONSIN.

MARYLAND.

VIRGINIA.

WEST VIRGINIA.

NORTH CAROLINA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

FLORIDA.

MISSISSIPPI.

TENNESSEE.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF CERVUS CANADENSIS IN THE PLEISTOCENE OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

ONTARIO.

VERMONT.

NEW YORK.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

MICHIGAN.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

WISCONSIN.

MARYLAND.

NORTH CAROLINA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEORGIA.

FLORIDA.

TENNESSEE.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF RANGIFER IN THE PLEISTOCENE OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

GRINNELL LAND.

ONTARIO.

VERMONT.

CONNECTICUT.

NEW YORK.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

ILLINOIS.

WISCONSIN.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF MUSK-OXEN IN THE PLEISTOCENE OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

GRINNELL LAND.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

MICHIGAN.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

WEST VIRGINIA.

MISSISSIPPI.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF EXTINCT BISONS IN THE PLEISTOCENE OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

ONTARIO.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

WISCONSIN.

MARYLAND.

VIRGINIA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEORGIA.

FLORIDA.

ALABAMA.

MISSISSIPPI.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF BISON BISON IN THE PLEISTOCENE OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

ONTARIO.

MASSACHUSETTS.

NEW YORK.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

WISCONSIN.

KENTUCKY.

FINDS OF CASTOROIDES IN PLEISTOCENE OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

NEW YORK.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

MICHIGAN.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEORGIA.

MISSISSIPPI.

TENNESSEE.

ON THE PLEISTOCENE GEOLOGY OF NORTH AMERICA AND ITS RELATION TO ITS FOSSIL VERTEBRATES.

ONTARIO.

QUEBEC.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NOVA SCOTIA, AND CAPE BRETON ISLAND.

NEW ENGLAND.

NEW YORK.

NEW JERSEY.

PENNSYLVANIA.

OHIO.

MICHIGAN.

INDIANA.

ILLINOIS.

WISCONSIN.

MARYLAND AND DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

VIRGINIA.

WEST VIRGINIA.

NORTH CAROLINA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEORGIA.

FLORIDA.

ALABAMA.

MISSISSIPPI.

TENNESSEE.

KENTUCKY.

MAPS AND THEIR EXPLANATIONS

INDEX

PREFACE.

Table of Contents

The writer has been engaged for several years on an investigation of the Pleistocene geology of North America and of the Vertebrata which have been discovered in the deposits of this epoch. It had been his expectation to publish the results of all his studies at the same date. However, on consultation with Dr. John C. Merriam, it was agreed that it would be better to publish immediately that part which pertains to the region lying east of the Mississippi River and, as to the country further north, that east of longitude 95°.

At the outset the writer was convinced that, before just conclusions could be reached, it was necessary to know what fossil materials had been collected and under what geological and geographical conditions. He therefore made as thorough a search as possible of the literature for reports of discoveries of fossil vertebrates. Also, when in scientific journals or in newspapers the finding of fossils was recorded, recourse was had to correspondence, thus securing much exact information as to locality, kind of matrix, depth, and other important data. Often photographs have been obtained and even the materials themselves. The writer has also visited many museums and colleges throughout the country and examined their collections. Even in the smaller institutions, where perhaps only a few objects have been secured and preserved, some of these have furnished important information. Regret may be expressed that in the larger museums and colleges, as well as the smaller ones, too often there have been preserved only meager or no records regarding the history of what would otherwise be valuable specimens.

In order to show the geographical distribution of the most important species that occur in considerable numbers, a series of maps has been prepared, pertaining to the following:

Whales and porpoises.

Seals and walruses.

The edentates.

Elephas primigenius.

E. columbi.

E. imperator.

E. species undetermined.

Mastodons, mostly Mammut.

Horses, mostly Equus.

Tapirs.

Peccaries.

Camels.

Odocoileus.

Cervus.

Rangifer.

Musk-oxen.

Bisons, extinct.

Bison bison.

Giant beavers.

Where the map of a State has become too crowded with numerals, a special map of that State for that species or genus has been prepared. There are maps of the edentates in Florida; mastodons of Indiana, of New York, of Ohio, of Michigan, of Florida; Elephas columbi in Florida; Elephas imperator in Florida; horses in Florida.

Other maps and figures for illustration of the Pleistocene geology will be found in their proper places.

The first part of the present volume is occupied by a consideration of the specimens recorded on the maps. Such information is noted as could be secured, often satisfactory, little enough sometimes; but it has been found that one can not foresee what important information a given fossil may furnish. At least, the presence of the fossil at a locality indicates the existence there of Pleistocene deposits of some kind. In cases where other species have been associated with the one mapped and described, these are noted.

When the consideration of these mapped species and genera is completed, the Pleistocene geology of the various States and provinces is taken up, so far as it is related to the vertebrate palæontology. This involved an examination of much of the literature of the Glacial period; and here one soon finds himself in face of huge tomes and endless articles and detailed maps. Only somewhat less in amount is the literature of the States beyond the glaciated area. The opportunity to misunderstand and to commit errors is unlimited, and the writer can only hope for lenient criticism.

An attempt has been made in the case of all vertebrate fossils to determine their geological relations and to derive some general conclusions regarding the history of our Pleistocene vertebrates and their relation to the divisions of the Pleistocene epoch. The conclusions reached are embodied in the immediately succeeding pages.

Not much attention has been given to the fossil invertebrates and plants. It is evident that neither the mollusks nor the plants have undergone any considerable change during Pleistocene times and are therefore not available as indicators of geological stages, though often useful for determining local climatic conditions. Their value can be better utilized by the palæomalacologists and palæobotanists.

To the officers of museums and colleges and to the private individuals who have so freely offered the use of their materials and in other ways aided the writer, he takes pleasure in expressing his sincere thanks. Most of all, however, he is indebted to the Carnegie Institution of Washington for the generous support extended during the years of this investigation.

June 1, 1922.

Oliver P. Hay.

THE PLEISTOCENE OF NORTH AMERICA AND ITS VERTEBRATED ANIMALS.

CONCLUSIONS REGARDING THE DIVISIONS OF THE PLEISTOCENE.

Table of Contents

I. Limits of the Pleistocene.

Table of Contents

The Pleistocene is regarded as being equivalent to what is known as the Glacial period. It began with the deployment of the ice-sheets which, proceeding from their centers of accumulation in British America, laid down in the East the Jerseyan drift and in the West the Nebraskan. The more the Glacial period is studied the more one becomes impressed with the significance of its physical effects on the northern hemisphere and with its influence on the vertebrate life. Doubtless its effects on the world in general are only beginning to be comprehended. The writer knows of no other phenomena, geological or biological, which so well characterize the Pleistocene period as do those comprehended under the term Glacial. They constitute the key to the determination of the subdivisions of the epoch and of their succession and to the history of the vertebrates which during this time occupied the continent.

II. The Blanco Pliocene.

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The Blanco is held to belong to the upper, or to the uppermost, Pliocene. It is at present assigned to the Middle Pliocene (Osborn, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. No. 361, p. 81; Matthew, ibid., p. 120). Until recently the oldest known Pleistocene vertebrates appeared to be represented by the collections which long ago were made at Fossil Lake, Oregon, and at Grayson (Hay Springs), Nebraska. These assemblages had formerly been referred to the Pliocene, and the belief that they belong there is not yet wholly without supporters. It seemed, therefore, proper to retire the Blanco somewhat. The discovery that the Fossil Lake and Grayson faunas were represented in the Aftonian deposits of Iowa, and belonged probably to the first interglacial stage, reveals the fact that the geological interval between the Blanco and the Aftonian is at least partly filled by the first glacial stage, the Nebraskan. Naturally, it is to be expected that the breach between the earlier and the later faunas will be occupied, in part at least, by the vertebrates of the Nebraskan. What these are is not yet well determined; but the writer believes that as the Blanco and its equivalent and closely related formations and faunas become better known, they will be attracted close to the Pleistocene.

Aside from the facts just mentioned, the Blanco fauna seems to the writer to be more closely related to the Aftonian than has been supposed. The genera which occur in the Blanco are the following:

Megalonyx.

Mylodon.

Glyptotherium.

Hipparion.

Pliohippus.

Protohippus.

Platygonus.

Pliauchenia.

Anancus.

Gomphotherium.

Stegomastodon.

Felis.

Amphicyon?

Borophagus.

Canimartes.

Of these, Megalonyx, Mylodon, Hipparion, Platygonus, Anancus, Gomphotherium?, Stegomastodon, and Felis are known from the first interglacial stage. Anancus includes mastodons with short, tuskless lower jaws and trefoiled molars. Gomphotherium, having long lower jaws with tusks, upper tusks with enamel band, and with trefoiled molars, may be represented by some of the early Pleistocene species. The same species of Stegomastodon appears to be present in the Blanco as in the Pleistocene, S. mirificus. The edentate Glyptotherium is not far removed from Glyptodon of the early Pleistocene. The Blanco genera of horses are so close to Equus that Cope regarded them as belonging to this genus.

The matter may be looked at from another point of view. If Mylodon, Megalonyx, and Glyptotherium are referred to the Middle Pliocene, we shall probably have them recorded as living in Texas before they existed in South America. It is true that Santiago Roth (Neues Jahrb., Min. Beil., Bd., vol. XXVI, table opposite p. 144) states that Glyptodon occurs in the Lower Pampas beds, and these he refers to the Upper Miocene; but the writer believes that Wilckens (Neues Jahrb, Min. Beil., Bd., vol. XXI, p. 193) is more nearly correct in placing them in the Pliocene. While the opinion may be correct that, when no obstacles intervene, the time required for mammals to spread over even a continent constitutes but a small part of a geological age, yet in making their way from South America, especially from Argentina, along the narrow bridge that appears to have been offered them, probably over mountain ranges, and across rivers and gorges, and in the face of the competing fauna advancing from the north, some of which were wolves and saber-tooth tigers, the slowly plodding and inoffensive edentates would have encountered too many hindrances to be able to make the journey in a short time.

The writer, therefore, ventures to range the Blanco immediately below the Pleistocene. On about the same level may be placed the Tulare-Etchegoin and the Thousand Creek formations of Merriam (Bull. Dept. Geol. Univ. Calif., vol. X, pp. 425, 429).

III. The Historical Divisions of the Pleistocene.

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The writer accepts the divisions of the Pleistocene which the geologists appear to have established. Formerly it was believed that North America had been subjected to a single glacial epoch; now it seems to be proved that there have occurred five such glacial epochs, or stages, and that there have intervened four interglacial stages of mild climate. The interglacial stages are italicized. The Nebraskan stage is the earliest, the Wisconsin the latest: Wisconsin, Peorian, Iowan, Sangamon, Illinoian, Yarmouth, Kansan, Aftonian, Nebraskan.

The characteristics of the various stages will be briefly discussed. The stages are not equally well understood and at present do not seem to be of equal importance in their relation to vertebrate paleontology.

IV. Elevations of the Continent Immediately Preceding or Accompanying the Opening of the Pleistocene.

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In pursuing the study of the Pleistocene, one soon realizes that this period was one of great geological activity. Ranges of mountains, if not begun anew, were at least raised to greater altitudes. The Cascade Range appears to have begun to rear its head at the beginning of the epoch, or even a little later. Here and there the crust of the earth was ruptured and great sheets of lava were poured out over the land. Ice caps repeatedly accumulated over large areas in North America and Europe, and in their movements southward transported vast amounts of earthy débris and turned the courses of great streams. Apparently at times the rainfall was greatly increased. The rivers, quickened by greater slope and the increased volume of water, cut their channels deeper and in the mountains excavated profound gorges. Through elevation of the land North America was, late in the Pliocene or early in the Pleistocene, put into easy communication with Asia and South America, so that vertebrated animals passed freely to and fro. A part of these activities probably belonged to the latter part of the Pliocene. In the more elevated regions of the eastern United States, through the chemical, rupturing, and transporting properties of water, rocks were dissolved and their disintegrated materials produced what has been designated the Lafayette formation; but it is possible that this belongs to the early Pleistocene.

V. Connections with Asia and South America.

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Mention has just been made of a land connection with Asia at some time about the beginning of the Pleistocene. The evidence for this may be called circumstantial rather than direct. The geological evidence has not been developed. If any deposits containing marine fossils had been laid down along the Asiatic and Alaskan coasts during a time of elevation, they would now be covered by the sea. Our evidence for the connection is derived from the distribution of the vertebrate animals. During the early Pleistocene our country was invaded by a host of mammals whose home was originally in Asia. These included elephants, bisons, elk, goats, bears, wolves, and foxes, besides many mammals of smaller size. It is the presence in America of the smaller animals, many genera of rodents of Asiatic origin, that shows that there must have been a land connection. These could not have made their passage across Bering Strait on the ice, as it might be imagined the larger animals did.

The way between the two continents had more than once before been open, but it was during the early Pleistocene that modern Asiatic genera entered North America in great numbers. Exactly where the land bridge between the two countries was situated is not certain; it may be that a large part of the area now occupied by Bering Sea was then dry land. Arldt (Entwicklung der Kontinente, plate 21) represents a connection extending from the northern border of Alaska southward to include the Aleutian Islands. Where narrowest, this bridge, as represented by the author named, extended from latitude 60° to 70°, a distance of about 700 miles. In such case the cold currents from the Arctic Ocean would have been prevented from entering the Pacific, while the Japan Current would have warmed up the southern side of the bridge. The route was then open on the north for the boreal animals of Asia to enter Alaska; while on the south the genera inhabiting the more temperate part of eastern Asia would have had free access to the American shore. Once on the continent, the boreal mammals might have spread along the shores of the Arctic Ocean and those of the temperate parts of Asia have made their way up the Yukon Valley, or possibly along the Pacific coast, to the warmer regions toward the south. We do not need to suppose that even during the first glacial, or Nebraskan, stage the climate of that part of North America was as inclement as now.

At the other end of our continent a train of events not wholly dissimilar was in motion. Even in the latter part of the Pliocene some South American edentates, such as Megalonyx, Mylodon, and Glyptotherium, had reached Texas. Probably a little later the bridge had become widened so that other edentates and a few genera of South American hystricine rodents swarmed into our southern borders. At the same time a host of carnivores, tapirs, horses, camels, peccaries, deer, and cricetine and sciurine rodents made their way into South America. It is now certain that the land bridge over which the interchange took place did not include the West Indies. Possibly there yet remained along the western coast of Central America some of the border, now submerged, which Schuchert (Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. XX, plates 96 to 100) represents as being present during the Tertiary.

VI. The Sources of the Vertebrates of the Pleistocene.

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The Pleistocene vertebrate fauna of North America has been derived from three sources. One component had descended from the animals which occupied the continent during the late Tertiary, but even these were of mixed derivation. A few appear to have filtered in from South America during the Pliocene; others had come from Asia during Tertiary invasions; but a large element was native to the country. As such may be taken the camels, the peccaries, the three-toed horses, the prong-horn antelope, the deer of the genus Odocoileus.

Upon a continent of vast extent and great fertility, possessing unbounded variety of climate and habitat, all these animals were thrown together to struggle for their existence. We must depend upon the imagination to picture what the result would have been if nature had pursued a course which might have been predicted. What the result in reality was, we shall see.

VII. The Richness of the Pleistocene Vertebrate Life.

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It will be profitable to consider briefly the character of the Pleistocene vertebrate fauna. The writer has compiled a list of the species which have, so far as he knows, been collected and described up to this time. There are in all 637 species; of these, 387 belong to the mammals, 154 to the birds, 26 only to the reptiles, 7 to the amphibians, 56 to the bony fishes, and 7 to the group of sharks and rays. Certainly these form only a part of the species which existed. At present there are known in our existing fauna north of Mexico 693 species of mammals, excluding the cetaceans—somewhat more than twice the number of known Pleistocene species. It is, however, rather in the great variety of forms that the Pleistocene excelled. Following Gerrit S. Miller’s Land Mammals of North America, 1912, we find in our present fauna north of Mexico 29 families; in the Pleistocene there are now known 37 families, not including the cetaceans. In our existing mammalian fauna there are recognized 111 genera; in the Pleistocene, with hardly half as many species recorded, 138 genera are counted. In order to realize more vividly the variety of Pleistocene forms, we have only to recall the animals then present, now absent, namely, the great ground-sloths, the glyptodons, the numerous species of horses, tapirs, numerous peccaries, camels, the extinct relatives of the musk-oxen, extinct bisons, elephants, mastodons of three or four genera, the giant beaver, and the saber-tooth tigers. Among the birds, reptiles, batrachians, and fishes, there were few striking forms, and these were mostly among the birds and the tortoises.

The above account shows the great richness of the vertebrate life during the Pleistocene; furthermore, this abundance evidently existed during the early stages of the epoch. It constituted the materials on which that combination of conditions which we call environment had to work during Pleistocene times. The comparison shows that the result was an impoverishment of the vertebrate fauna. Genera and families, even orders, were wiped out of existence, and these included some of the noblest animals that have graced the face of the earth, the elephants, the mastodons, tapirs, many species of bison, horses, saber-tooth cats, huge tigers, and gigantic wolves. The following nine or ten families became either wholly extinct or continued to exist only in other more hospitable lands: the Megatheriidæ, including several genera of ground-sloths; the Hoplophoridæ or glyptodons; the Caviidæ, which embraced one or more species of huge capybaras; the Elephantidæ, under which are arranged three or four species of elephants and three genera of mastodons; the Equidæ, represented by a dozen or more species of horses; the Camelidæ, of which there were several Pleistocene species and probably three or four genera; the Hyænidæ, of which there appears to have been at least one genus, with one species; the Tapiridæ, including three or four species; and probably the Rhinocerotidæ. Besides these, the subfamily of Felidæ known as Machairodontinæ, embracing those wonderful carnivores the saber-tooth tigers, was suppressed. The Dasypodidæ, which included some armadillos 5 or 6 feet long, are now represented by only one small species in Texas. Of the Tagassuidæ, to which belonged several genera and stately species of peccaries, there exists now in North America north of Mexico but one species, an animal of only moderate size.

VIII. On Evolution During the Pleistocene.

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We have seen that the Pleistocene fauna was very different from that which existed when white men first entered the country; also that the difference has in large part been due to the destruction of species, genera, and families. We may now inquire whether or not the loss has been to any considerable extent compensated by the development of new forms. Many of our existing genera and species have been found in the collections that represent the earliest Pleistocene known to us. The writer believes it would be unsafe to say that any living species that one might select may not hereafter be discovered in early Pleistocene collections. It is probably true, however, that some of those small changes by which we distinguish one species from another have been produced. Some small but persistent differences might, for example, have arisen in the teeth or in the form of the skull of a group of muskrats which would justify us in regarding it as forming a new species. It is extremely doubtful that any new genus of vertebrates has been developed since the first interglacial stage. Matthew has concluded (Science, n. s., vol. XL, pp. 232–235) that the evolution of the mammals during the Pleistocene amounts to about one-tenth of that achieved during the Pliocene. The present writer regards this as a liberal estimate.

This failure to evolve new genera and species is not necessarily to be attributed to the shortness of the Pleistocene period; it may have been due rather to the unfavorable conditions. In what direction could an animal make progress when, after being subjected for some thousands of years to one set of conditions, it was compelled for some other thousands to endure just the opposite conditions? If life in front of a glacier for some centuries led to the development of a coat of hair on an elephant, that coat would probably disappear during the succeeding interglacial stage, and in the end, if the elephant had not perished, he would be where he began.

Too much stress must not, however, be placed on this suggestion. It may yet be possible to show that nowhere in the world was any considerable progress made by mammals during the Pleistocene, in the modification of their forms and structure. On the other hand, it is also possible that all over the world climatic conditions were at intervals unfavorably affected by the development of the great glaciers and that all life was retarded in its evolution. The writer believes, therefore, that it can not be shown with certainty that new forms of living things, especially vertebrates, were developed in North America during the Pleistocene. It may be quite as difficult to prove that any genera or species of importance entered from other lands after the first invasion. Under these conditions there appears to be no means for determining successive faunas other than through recording the time of the disappearance of genera and species.

IX. Did the Extinction of Species Take Place Mostly at the End of the Pleistocene?

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At the beginning of the Pleistocene there existed, as has been shown, an abundant and highly varied mammalian fauna; at the close of the epoch this fauna had become relatively impoverished. Did all those families and genera and species, that in the end were missing, perish during or after the last glacial stage, the Wisconsin? This opinion has been expressed by some. The writer believes that this view is wholly improbable.

A glacial sheet, stretched across the continent or a large part of it, was not local in its effects; it was not a cap of ice merely concealing a part of the land and covered possibly by forests and allowing occupation by certain hardy animals, while beyond, up to its foot, the country was pleasantly cool, wooded, and abounding with animated creatures. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California (Lindgren, Folio 66, U. S. Geol. Surv.) and of Nevada (Knopf, Prof. Pap., U. S. Geol. Surv., 110, pp. 92–105) and in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado (Atwood and Mather, Jour. Geol., vol. XX, p. 385), at distances of approximately 600 or 700 miles from the glacial front, there existed, during more than one stage, extensive local glaciers. Along the Atlantic coast during at least one glacial stage the walrus was driven as far south as Charleston, South Carolina. One can hardly doubt that the whole continent was chilled during each of the glacial stages.

To mammals, which for perhaps various reasons had been with difficulty enduring the stress of existence, the glacial climates would give the final stroke; perhaps to others the interglacial climates would have been quite as fatal. We can not doubt that each glacial and each interglacial stage swept away a few of the less hardy genera and species. Nevertheless, several remarkable animals passed through the vicissitudes of all the glacial and interglacial times and left their bones in the deposits overlying the last, or Wisconsin, drift. Such are two species of elephants, the American mastodon, the giant beaver, and one or more species of peccaries. Why they succumbed at last is difficult to say. Possibly the return of a fifth warm era proved too much for their endurance.

A reason for believing that the genera and species missing from the fauna found here when white men arrived, called sometimes the Columbian fauna, were exterminated gradually and not at one epoch is that certain ones are found in deposits overlying the earlier glacial drift-sheets, but are not found in deposits on later drifts. Camels occur in Aftonian beds overlying the Nebraskan drift, but have not been collected in later interglacial deposits. Horses grow scarcer as the Pleistocene advances. They are known from deposits overlying the Illinoian drift, but do not appear after the Wisconsin.

X. The Stratigraphical and Time Limits of the Earliest Pleistocene.

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It is necessary to determine, if possible, where the boundary line shall be drawn between the Pliocene and the Pleistocene. Room must be made for the first interglacial, the Nebraskan, and its fauna. How long this first glacial stage continued we do not know. Chamberlin and Salisbury have indicated (Geology, vol. III, p. 420) that in a rough way the dates from the present of the culmination of the various glacial stages, except the Nebraskan, taken in order backward, may be represented by the geometrical series 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. That is, if the Illinoian stage had its culmination 150,000 years ago, that of the Kansan occurred 300,000 years ago; if the Nebraskan should fall in the same series, it culminated 600,000 years ago; and it and the succeeding Aftonian interglacial held sway as long as all the rest of the Pleistocene put together. It would be rash to assert that this first glacial did last so long; but we see the possibilities. In a personal communication Professor Frank Leverett writes that he estimates that the Kansan culmination took place at not less than 400,000 years ago and the Nebraskan at 500,000. This, as the present writer estimates, would leave for the Nebraskan itself somewhere near 40,000 or 50,000 years. Some changes in the life of the Pleistocene must have been wrought during those years.

The glacial deposits of the Nebraskan stage are not as well known as one might wish. They appear to be in general overlain by the later drifts and are observed mostly where streams have cut through both the overlying drift and the Nebraskan. The old drift found in New Jersey is thin and of no great extent. Moreover, we can hardly expect to find fossil vertebrates in the drift itself. We must therefore depend on studies of supposed Nebraskan fossils found mostly outside of the glaciated area and make comparison of them with earlier and later faunas. If we shall discover collections of Nebraskan vertebrate animals, we may be sure that they will differ from those of the first interglacial, the Aftonian. We may be pretty certain that they will include autochthonous genera of the late Tertiary, which may be missing from the Aftonian, together with at least a few genera from South America and others from Asia.

Now, have any formations and included fossil vertebrates been found which may be fitted into the Nebraskan interval?

In this stage the writer places the beds which Cope designated the Idaho formation (Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1883, p. 135). Since Cope’s time several new species have been added to his list from this formation. In 1917 (Bull. Dept. Geol. Univ. Calif., vol. X, p. 432), Dr. J. C. Merriam published a list of the fossils, except fishes, which had been secured up to that time. The list of species referred to the Idaho formation is as follows:

Equus idahoensis.

E. excelsus?

Protohippus?

Rhinoceros, probably Aphelops (Teleoceras) fossiger.

Mastodon mirificus.

Cervus, possibly new. Smaller and more slender than C. canadensis.

Procamelus, size of P. major.

Tragocerus? horn-core of antelope.

Ischyrosmilus n. sp.

Morotherium leptonyx.

Castor, possibly n. sp.

Olor, size of O. paloregonus.

Graculus idahoensis.

In this collection the presence of horses of the genus Equus, of Cervus, Morotherium, and Castor, is strongly suggestive of the Pleistocene. The type of Mastodon mirificus was found in Pleistocene deposits of probably Aftonian age. Although rhinoceroses are supposed to have become extinct before the end of the Pliocene, this supposition may be an error. The list of Blanco vertebrates is a short one, and the absence of a genus from it is not decisive. One drawing of a seine in the sea-waters of Florida would furnish inadequate materials for conclusions about the fish fauna of that coast.

The Thousand Creek fauna (Merriam, Bull. Dept. Geol. Univ. Calif., vol. X, p. 429), which to the present writer appears of about the same age as the Blanco, contains a species of Teleoceras. The genera Protohippus and Procamelus might be supposed to have continued their existence and evolution until interrupted by an age of ice and by competitors from Asia.

In 1917 (Bull. cit., vol. X, pp. 255–266) Merriam and Buwalda published a short list of fossils which they had collected along the Columbia River in Washington State. A horse was found which was referred to Equus or Pliohippus; also two camelids, one of which was thought to be near Pliauchenia. Merriam concluded that the evidence on the whole favored the Pleistocene. The list will fit into the Nebraskan without difficulty.

In 1889 (Amer. Naturalist, vol. XXIII, p. 253), Professor E. D. Cope published a list of fossil mammals collected in the Oregon desert, apparently somewhere in the region of Silver Lake or Summer Lake. The list is as follows:

Canis sp. indet.

Elephas or Mastodon.

Holomeniscus or Auchenia.

Aphelops sp. indet.

Hippotherium relictum.

Equus sp. indet.

Cope looked upon this collection as remarkable in that it showed the presence of true horses and camels associated with a rhinoceros. He concluded that the fossils belonged to his Idaho formation. Dr. W. D. Matthew thought that the collection was a mixture of fossils from two formations (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. XVI, p. 321). It may, however, have been made in Nebraskan deposits.

In 1921 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. LIX, pp. 617–638), the writer described a collection of vertebrate remains from Anita, Coconino County, Arizona. These remains were found in a cave in making explorations for copper ore. The list follows:

Equus occidentalis.

E. giganteus?

Mylohyus? sp. indet.

Procamelus coconinensis.

P. longurio.

Antilocapra americana?

Marmota arizonæ.

Citellus tuitus.

Neotoma cinerea.

Lepus benjamini.

Brachylagus browni.

Taxidea robusta.

Canis nubilus?

C. latrans?

Chasmaporthetes ossifragus.

The writer believes that this assemblage of mammals must be referred to the Pleistocene. It will be noted, however, that there are two species of the genus Procamelus. These resemble so much two species, P. major and P. minimus, described by Leidy and Lucas (Trans. Wagner Free Inst., vol. IV, pp. I-XIV, 15–61) from the Alachua clays of Florida, that it seemed at first necessary to identify them as such. The genus Procamelus seems, therefore, to be brought definitely into the early Pleistocene, probably the Nebraskan.

The collections made in the Alachua clays in Florida were obtained in Alachua and Levy counties. On pages 195 and 375 will be found an account of the geological conditions under which the fossils were found, and lists of the species. The essential features are that such supposed Miocene or Pliocene genera as Gomphotherium, Procamelus, Teleoceras, and Aphelops were found associated with the Pleistocene genera Odocoileus, Tapirus, Megatherium, and Equus. This has been explained on the theory that the clays are of Tertiary age and that the Pleistocene species had become mingled with those of an earlier time. At a number of places in Florida where phosphate rock has been mined there have been secured similar associations of early camels, rhinoceroses, horses (Hipparion, Parahippus) with genera belonging undoubtedly to the Pleistocene. This has occurred so often that the writer doubts the correctness of the explanation given. He ventures, therefore, to include in the Pleistocene of the Nebraskan stage the various deposits that have received the names Alachua clays, the Dunnellon formation, and Bone Valley formation. The latter, called also the land-pebble phosphates, is believed by Sellards to be contemporaneous in age with the Dunnellon or hard phosphates, but to have accumulated under different conditions. Both the Alachuan and the Bone Valley formations were referred by Sellards to either the late Miocene or the early Pliocene, with an evident preference for the latter. It seems to have been the presence of the rhinoceroses that most influenced him in his assignment of the deposits; but there were naturally other considerations. He wrote:

The presence of rhinoceroses in the formation is believed to establish definitely the fact that the beds can not be later than the early Pliocene, since rhinoceroses in America apparently did not survive beyond that time (Fla. Geol. Surv., vol. VII, p. 73).

According to Sellards the hard phosphate, belonging to the Alachua (Dunnellon) formation (Fla. Geol. Surv., vol. V, p. 37) resulted from a disintegration of underlying Upper Oligocene deposits and probably the Vicksburg limestone. Through chemical action these rocks were partly dissolved and the residual materials were mixed by local subsidence and by action of streams and later modified by chemical changes.

The land-pebble phosphate of the Bone Valley formation had, Sellards concluded (Fla. Geol. Surv., vol. VII, p. 55), resulted from underlying phosphate marls of Upper Oligocene age. This occurred during a time of general subsidence of sufficient extent to permit marine waters to reach the area covered by the Bone Valley phosphates. The presence of sea-water is indicated by the occurrence of bones of cetaceans.

With regard to the effects of streams and of the chemical action of the water on the rocks, which contributed to the formation of the hard rock phosphate and the production of sinks and caves, it may be remarked that we know of no time when rocks were dissolved and caves formed to the extent that they were during the Pleistocene.

As shown on page 15, various deposits of marine marls along the Atlantic coast are referred by the writer to the Nebraskan. Among these marls are the coquina rock found at St. Augustine and the marine marl underlying the bed at Vero, which contained early Pleistocene vertebrate fossils. These marls are known to extend well inland, being found at Kissimmee, 50 miles from the coast. In some places they are met with at depths of 70 feet (Sellards, Fla. Geol. Surv., vol. VIII, pp. 105–106). Marls of probably the same age occur on the western coast of Florida (Dall, Bull. 84, U. S. Geol. Surv., p. 152). The writer believes that some of these marls may yet be connected with the phosphate beds of the Bone Valley formation.

A figure taken from Sellards (Geol. Surv. Fla., vol. VII, opp. p. 53) may be found on page 377. This illustrates the relation of the Dunnellon and Bone Valley formations to the underlying deposits.

XI. The First Interglacial, or Aftonian, Stage.

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Mention has been made of collections of fossil vertebrates which long ago were secured at Fossil Lake, Oregon, and of others along Niobrara River, near Grayson, Nebraska. Lists of the species found at each locality were given by Dr. W. D. Matthew in 1902 (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. XVI, pp. 317–320). These deposits and animals were regarded by Cope and Marsh as belonging to the Pliocene, until G. K. Gilbert, in his work on Lake Bonneville (Monogr. I, U. S. Geol. Surv., pp. 393–402) showed that the Oregon fossils must belong to the Glacial epoch, but he referred them to a late time in this epoch, that of the last glaciation. It thus became quite impossible to determine the age of any collection of fossil vertebrates.

In 1887 (Univ. Geol. Surv. Kansas vol. II, pp. 299–308), Williston wrote:

Every fact furnished from Kansas seems to substantiate Cope’s conclusion that the Megalonyx fauna of the East and the Equus fauna of the West were contemporaneous and that both occurred during the period of depression; that is, during late Pleistocene time.

This paragraph was quoted by Osborn in 1910 (Age of Mammals, p. 453), who appears to agree in part with Williston, although he expressed the opinion that some of the deposits were earlier than the others. Osborn supported the view of the existence of two faunas, that of the "Equus zone and that of the Megalonyx zone. The former fauna was regarded as the older, but overlapping somewhat during the mid-Pleistocene" the Megalonyx fauna. He presented a catalogue of deposits belonging to his Equus zone (his page 453) and another of those of the Megalonyx zone (p. 467). In the latter he included deposits that he would now doubtless refer to the earliest Pleistocene, for example, the Ashley River beds.

It was necessary for the geologists to come again to the rescue of the palæontologists. They established the fact that there had passed, not a single glacial stage, but a series, and that these had been separated by corresponding interglacial stages. They were able to show also that between the drift-sheets there were to be found remnants of old gravels and fossil-bearing soils. In Iowa, through the careful researches of Calvin and Shimek, numerous remains of fossil mammals were discovered in gravels lying between the earliest drift, the Nebraskan, and the second drift, the Kansan. Among these mammals were identified horses, camels, elephants (E. columbi, E. imperator), Mylodon, Megalonyx, and a large ruminant which is certainly a species of bison. This fauna, known as the Aftonian, was correlated by Calvin with that of the Sheridan beds of Nebraska (Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. XX, p. 354). The writer has had the opportunity to study this Aftonian material (Iowa Geol. Surv., vol. XXIII), and, although it is not as abundant as might be desired, he agrees with Calvin’s correlation.

Making due allowances for environment and the hazards attending preservation and collection, the Aftonian and Sheridan fauna is practically the same as that found at Fossil Lake, Oregon. Furthermore, it may be traced along the plains into Texas and to the shores of the Gulf. Here, at or near tide-level, or not far away, may be found horses, camels, elephants (E. columbi and E. imperator), Mammut americanum, and mastodons with teeth presenting trefoils. In Texas, within a mile of the Louisiana line, Elephas imperator has been collected. The fauna reappears on the west coast of Florida; also on Peace Creek; on the east coast at Vero; at Brunswick and Savannah, Georgia; along Ashley River, near Charleston; probably also on the banks of Neuse River, 16 miles below New Bern, North Carolina; and again probably at Long Branch, New Jersey, where Megatherium has been found; and finally at Port Kennedy, on Schuylkill River, about 25 miles above Philadelphia. All along the coast, apparently from the Rio Grande to Long Branch, the localities which furnish Aftonian fossils are within a few feet of sea-level.

XII. The Yarmouth Interglacial Stage.

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Up to the present time the interglacial soils found in a few localities between the Kansan and the Illinoian drifts have furnished only scanty remains of vertebrate fossils—a rabbit and a skunk at the type locality in Iowa. Certainly, however, the same animals were living then that were found at later stages.

XIII. The Illinoian Glacial Stage.

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To the Illinoian glacial stage the writer refers the collection of fossil vertebrates which was described in 1908 by Barnum Brown (Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. IX, pp. 157–208) and which had been obtained in the Conard fissure near Willcockson, Newton County, Arkansas. It is placed here rather than in the Sangamon stage, because of the number of species present which suggest a rather cold climate. A list of these species will be found on pages 31–32 of volume XXIII, of the Iowa Geological Survey.

XIV. The Sangamon Interglacial Stage.

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This was the warm stage which succeeded the glacial Illinoian. Between the Illinoian and the Wisconsin there passed a long period of time. It is now believed that it was interrupted by the Iowan ice-sheet, but this appears not to have lasted long nor to have occupied any considerable area. Associated with it in some way was the accumulation of much loess. This was formerly supposed to have been deposited to a large extent at least during the Sangamon; but, as Leverett informs me, it appears to have been laid down at a time nearer the Wisconsin than the Illinoian. This Iowan drift and the loess has been the subject of a special investigation by Alden and Leighton (Iowa Geol. Surv., vol. XXVI, pp. 49–212). Few vertebrate fossils have been found in the loess. Their bones may have been dissolved out by the percolating rain-water, and yet the delicate shells of land mollusks are abundant. A collection which the writer regards as belonging rightfully to the Sangamon was made at Alton, Illinois, many years ago, by William McAdams. A list of the species and an account of the geological conditions connected with it are presented on page 339. The remains appear to have accumulated in a pond on the Illinoian drift and to have been covered by loess. The horse was yet in existence, as well as the deer Sangamona and the antelope Taurotragus americanus. Two-thirds of the 15 species are extinct. A smaller number of species have been collected near Kimmswick, just below St. Louis, Missouri. The remains found in a cave in Bexar County, Texas, are believed to belong here (Hay, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. LVIII, p. 129). It is, however, in the Alleghany Mountains that most of the vertebrates have been collected which the writer refers to the Sangamon stage. These have been found in caves and fissures from northern Pennsylvania to northern Alabama. Unfortunately, although mostly discovered several years ago, some of these collections have not yet been well studied and have not been accessible to the writer. They contain two or three species of horses, two or three genera of peccaries, tapirs, the deer Sangamona, the antelope Taurotragus, and one or more species of saber-tooth tigers. Half or more of the species are extinct. To the writer these assemblages seem to fit into the history nowhere so well as into the Sangamon stage.

Another assemblage that probably belongs here is that made at Toronto (p. 282). This indicates a warm climate, since the pawpaw and the osage orange grew there.

XV. The Peorian Interglacial Stage.

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This is the interglacial interval between the Iowan glacial and the Wisconsin. It was probably not of long continuance and is chiefly remarkable for the deposition of loess. This has not furnished any important collections of vertebrate fossils. The type locality for the Peorian stage is a locality east of Peoria, Illinois. Leverett (Monogr. XXXVIII, U. S. Geol. Surv.) mentions several cases in which old soils believed to belong to the Peorian were observed in Illinois. None of these has furnished vertebrate fossils. It is usually difficult to distinguish the Sangamon from the Peorian soils.

XVI. The Wisconsin Glacial Stage and the Wabash Beds.

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The next stage which furnishes abundant vertebrate fossils is the Wisconsin. These remains are found most abundantly in the old soils and mucks which accumulated in the swamps, ponds, and lakes left on the uneven surface of the Wisconsin drift as the ice retired. To such deposits the writer has given the name Wabash beds. They are often called post-glacial deposits; but that term ought in strictness to be applied only to deposits of the present epoch. They may be called Late Glacial, but that expression has been used for the drift and moraines produced by the second half of the Wisconsin glaciation. It might be better to use for the divisions of the Wisconsin the terms Lower and Upper.

In the late Wisconsin, or the Wabash, deposits there may be found remains of any of the existing animals of the region; also often the bones and teeth of mammals now living in more northern regions. Besides these, there may occur the relics of animals which were able to endure the rigors, changes, and competitions of the Glacial period, but succumbed at its end. These are, especially, two species of elephants, one or two species of mastodons, four or more species of musk-oxen, the moose Cervalces, one or more species of peccary, and the giant beaver.

XVII. On the Theory of the Pleistocene Terraces of the Coastal Plain.

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The writer will discuss briefly the widely accepted theory that along the sea-coast from New Jersey to southwestern Texas there occurs a series of terraces and corresponding escarpments, three or more in number, representing successive emergences of the borders of the continent from the sea. The theory was first proposed by Dr. W. J. McGee (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 3, vol. XXV, 1888, p. 367; 12th Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv., pt. I, 1891, pp. 353–521). He included in the initial submergence not only the area occupied by the supposed Pleistocene terraces, but also the borders of the coasts to an elevation corresponding to the Lafayette (Appomattox) formation, which he referred provisionally to the late Pliocene. This submergence required a depression of the eastern half of the continent amounting to 500 feet or more. The theory was accepted especially by the geologists of Maryland in their excellent reports (Shattuck, Maryland Geol. Surv., Pliocene and Pleistocene volume, pp. 62–137, with maps). It has likewise been applied to the geology of Virginia (Clark and Miller, Va. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. IV, pp. 48–56, 179–189), North Carolina (Stephenson, N. C. Geol. Econom. Surv., vol. III, 1912, pp. 266–290), Georgia (Veatch, Geol. Surv. Ga., Bull. No. 26, 1911, pp. 35–50), as Okefenokee and Satilla; (Stephenson, ibid., pp. 425–445), Florida (Matson and Clapp, Fla. Geol. Surv., vol. II, 1909), and to Texas (Deussen, Water Supply Pap. U. S. Geol. Surv. 335, pp. 78–83).

In Maryland and the District of Columbia there have been recognized three Pleistocene terraces (Shattuck, as cited above). The uppermost is the Sunderland, the next the Wicomico, the lowest the Talbot. These are not correlated by Shattuck definitely with glacial divisions of the Pleistocene, but the Sunderland is the oldest, while the Talbot is regarded the most recent, probably about the age of the last glacial stage, the Wisconsin.

When the writer began his study of the Pleistocene he accepted the theory proposed by McGee and the Maryland geologists, and traces of this acceptance may be found in this work; but he is now convinced of its falsity. It is hardly to be believed that the coastal region could have been occupied, even at intervals, since the late Pliocene, when the depression is supposed to have been at least 500 feet, and 200 feet during the Sunderland, down to the end of the Wicomico and even the Talbot, without its having left other traces of marine occupation than the supposed terraces and escarpments. There ought to appear somewhere in the long border from New Jersey to Mexico abundant and extensive deposits of stratified materials, clays, sands, and gravels. Such deposits appear to be relatively rare.

A still more serious objection to the theory of submergence beneath marine waters is the absence of marine fossils. In the materials forming these terraces one might with confidence expect to find at least marine mollusks, mussels, clams, and beds of oysters; probably also remains of fishes, of porpoises, and of whales. Leaving out of consideration the Talbot terrace, which is near sea-level (Shattuck, op. cit., p. 10), the supporters of the theory under consideration admit that not in the Lafayette, nor the Sunderland, nor the Wicomico, have any traces of such fossils been met with. On the other hand, all over these terraces are found remains of land animals and plants. Mastodons, elephants, and horses are by no means rare. Conditions favorable for the preservation of teeth of proboscideans must have been quite as well adapted to preserve shells of oysters. In the Sunderland and Wicomico a few land plants have been secured, an abundance of them in the Talbot. Map No. 39 shows the distribution of Pleistocene mammals, mollusks, and plants on the Coastal Plain of North Carolina.

It seems evident, therefore, that the sea has had nothing to do with the formation of the Lafayette, the Sunderland, and the Wicomico terraces, and little with that of the Talbot. It was natural that the advocates of this theory of the formation of these terraces during the Pleistocene should distribute them somewhat impartially over the time of this epoch, assigning the Talbot to a late interval. On page 11 the writer has called attention to the fact that in many places along the coast from southeastern Texas to New Jersey, at or near sea-level, there are beds which contain a vertebrate fauna of the Aftonian or first interglacial stage. Probably nowhere do these beds have any large amount of later materials overlying them; it is often extremely little. So far as the writer can judge, this means that all the terraces and escarpments were produced before the time of the first interglacial; not since that distant time has there occurred along the Gulf or Atlantic coasts south of New Jersey any considerable elevation or depression of the Coastal Plain.

FINDS OF PLEISTOCENE CETACEANS IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.

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(Map 1.)

ONTARIO.

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1. Nepean Township, Carleton County.—In 1914, Mr. L. M. Lambe, of the Canadian Geological Survey, stated (Summ. Rep. for 1913, p. 299) that Walter Billings, of Ottawa, had presented to the Survey a caudal vertebra of Delphinapterus leucas, found in Pleistocene gravel on lot 15, concession 5, of Nepean township. The locality is near Jock River, a stream which flows northeasterly and enters Rideau River about 11 miles south of Ottawa. With it was sent the lower end of a femur, supposed to belong to the bison.

2. Ottawa East, Carleton County.—In 1910, Mr. L. M. Lambe reported (Summ. Rep. Geol. Surv. Can. for 1909, p. 273) that Mr. A. Penfold had presented to the Survey a caudal vertebra of Delphinapterus leucas, which he had found at Ottawa East, at a depth of 25 feet, while digging a well.

3.