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
12. _Charlotte, Chittenden County._—At this place were discovered
considerable parts of a whale, described in 1850 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser.
2, vol. IX, pp. 256–263) by Zadock Thompson, under the name _Beluga
vermontana_. The animal has by many been regarded as identical with the
white whale, _Delphinapterus leucas_, now appearing sometimes as far up
as Montreal. A more extended description of it was given in 1853 (Hist.
Vermont, Append., p. 15, figs. 1–13). This was reproduced in Edward
Hitchcock’s Report on the Geology of Vermont, 1861, page 164, and was
followed by remarks on the specimen by Edward Hitchcock jr. In the
second volume of the work just cited (p. 938) Hager furnished a figure
of the skeleton as mounted. In 1908 (Rep. State Geologist Vermont,
1907–8, pp. 76–112, plates X-XIX), Professor G. H. Perkins gave an
extended description of the remains and reached the conclusion that _D.
vermontanus_ is distinct from _D. leucas_. Since Perkins’s article gives
a full history of the discovery and the literature pertaining to the
specimen, this account will be much abridged. The bones were found in
making a cut for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad, at the town of
Charlotte, about a mile east of the shore of Lake Champlain. The bones
were 8 or 9 feet below the surface and “were very completely bedded in
fine adhesive blue clay.” The locality is 60 feet above the mean level
of the lake and 150 feet above the sea. The deposits were laid down in
the marine waters which took possession of Lake Champlain and the St.
Lawrence Valley when the Wisconsin glacial ice had withdrawn north of
St. Lawrence River. The geological age of the animal is therefore late
Pleistocene.
NORTH CAROLINA.
13. _Below New Bern._—In 1842 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XLIII, p. 143),
Richard Harlan reported regarding the species of fossil vertebrates
found 16 miles below New Bern. His list, which was long and consisted
mainly of vernacular names, included “cetaceans.”
SOUTH CAROLINA.
14. _Charleston._—In 1860 (Holmes’s Post-Pliocene Foss. South Carolina,
p. 117, plate XXIV, fig. 9), Leidy described a cetacean tooth which he
called _Physeter antiquus_. Later the specific name was changed to
_vetus_. At the same time he figured a tooth (fig. 8) found in the
Ashley River deposits. He further stated that teeth apparently of the
same species had been taken from the Miocene formations of Virginia, but
found no characters by which they could be distinguished from those of
the recent sperm whale.
GEORGIA.
15. _Brunswick._—In 1911 (Bull. No. 26, Geol. Surv. Georgia, p. 436),
Gidley reported from here, among other vertebrates, some teeth which he
regarded as those of _Physeter vetus_; but this may not be correct and
they may not belong to the Pleistocene.
FLORIDA.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account