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
In 1891 (Geol. Mag., dec. 3, vol. VIII, p. 504), Professor J. Hoyes
Panton reported the discovery, in 1890, of bones of a mammoth at this
place, impliedly in a bed of marl. There were 31 ribs, several vertebræ,
a tusk 12.66 feet long, with a portion broken off; also a tooth weighing
16.75 pounds. From Mr. Simon Jelly, of Shelburne, the writer learns that
the bones reported to have been found at Shelburne are the same as those
reported from Amaranth. They had been exhumed by his brother, John
Jelly, and were taken to Owen Sound and from there exhibited at county
fairs for several years.
These bones, or a part of them, are at present in possession of Mr.
Alexander Duke, of San Diego, California. A photograph of the tusk shows
it has quite the length given for it. It is relatively slender, the base
having a diameter said to be 9.5 inches. It is spirally twisted in the
distal half. The atlas is present and stated to measure 16 by 9 inches.
There is a small but distinct photograph of a hindermost molar,
apparently an upper one. The tooth is 16 inches long, 7 inches high, and
3 inches wide. This is the length from the front of the grinding-surface
to the base behind. The plates are not worn to the base in front. There
appear to be 22 ridge-plates present, and 6 in a 4–inch line. The base
of the tooth is straight; the ridge-plates curve forward slightly as
they ascend. The hyoid arch is preserved. The writer regards the
specimen as being a large individual of _Elephas primigenius_.
This elephant lived after the Wisconsin ice-sheet had begun to withdraw.
According to Taylor’s map (Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., LIII, plate XIX),
this region had become cleared of ice while the basin of Lake Ontario
was still fully occupied by the glacier; but it is doubtful that the
animal could have lived there at that time.
NEW YORK.
(Map 11.)
1. _Minoa, Onondaga County._—Dr. Burnett Smith, of Syracuse University,
sent the writer photographs of a lower hindermost molar of an elephant
which, associated with a tusk, was found at this place, 8 miles east of
Syracuse. Dr. Smith has ascertained that the tooth and the tusk were dug
up during the construction of the West Shore Railroad. The tooth is
quite certainly that of _Elephas primigenius_. It is worn down to the
base in front, but retains a part of its large posterior root.
2. _Williamson, Wayne County._—In the collection of Rochester University
is a lower left hindermost molar tooth found at this place. Professor H.
L. Fairchild informed the writer that the tooth was found on the
Iroquois beach, but whether on the northern or southern side is not
known.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account