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
2. _Millersburg, Holmes County._—In the University of Ohio there is a
mounted specimen of _Megalonyx jeffersonii_ containing a considerable
part of the skeleton; the missing portions are replaced artificially.
The remains were found in the eastern part of Holmes County just north
of the terminal moraine of the Wisconsin drift-sheet. This moraine had
led to the formation of a marsh, and in this the animal ended his life.
The place was said by Orton to be 6 miles east and a mile north of
Millersburg. The skeleton lay on shell marl beneath 6 feet of peat. The
remains have been described by Claypole (Amer. Geologist, vol. VII,
1891, pp. 122–132, 149–153) and by Hay (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXXVI,
1913, p. 558; Geol. Surv. Iowa, vol. XXIII, 1914, p. 110).
INDIANA.
(Map 3.)
The only member of the order of Xenarthra that has yet been found in
this State is _Megalonyx jeffersonii_, and this in only one place, viz,
Evansville.
1. _Evansville, Vanderburg County._—In 1854 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Phila., vol. VII, pp. 199–200), Leidy described a collection of
vertebrate fossils secured by Mr. Francis A. Lincke from the banks of
the Ohio River, near the mouth of Pigeon Creek, a short distance below
Evansville. At that time and locality bones were usually found sticking
out of the bank when the water in the river was low. The bones sent to
Leidy were thoroughly impregnated with oxide of iron, which served as a
cement to adhering pebbles, sand, and fragments of Unios and shells of
other fresh-water mollusks. The remains of the megalonyx consisted of
parts of two tibiæ of young individuals, an atlas, a fragment of a
heel-bone, a metacarpal and a metatarsal bone, and a claw phalanx. With
these were discovered a fragment of a cervical vertebra of a species of
bison, various bones of the Virginia deer, a vertebra of a horse,
probably _Equus complicatus_, a tooth of the tapir _Tapirus haysii_, and
a part of the upper jaw of the wolf now known as _Ænocyon dirus_, but at
that time called by Leidy _Canis primævus_.
The principal interest in these remains is to determine at what time
during the Pleistocene the megalonyx lived. Some indications may be
obtained from a study of its companions. From a part of a cervical
vertebra Leidy could not name the bison, but it belonged probably to one
of the extinct species. The deer is yet living, but appears to have
existed through most of the Pleistocene. The species of horse
represented is extinct, and there is no evidence that it lived after the
Wisconsin glacial stage. Its latest representatives probably lived
during the Sangamon stage. No tapir is known to have lived after the
Wisconsin stage. The wolf, _Ænocyon dirus_, is believed to be
represented in the numerous individuals found in the asphalt beds of Los
Angeles, California, probably equivalent in age to the Aftonian.
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