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°Hay, Oliver Perry
Science
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°
Hay, Oliver Perry
Paleontology -- North America; Paleontology -- Pleistocene; Vertebrates, Fossil
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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