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

FLORIDA.

(Map [22].)

1. Pablo Beach, Duval County.—Dr. Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 106) reported remains of Odocoileus found at station 120 of the Inland Waterway Canal, about 5 miles south of Pablo Beach. Further mention is made of this on page [374].

2. Neals, Alachua County.—In his eighth report (page 94) Sellards stated that at Neals, near Newberry, teeth had been collected which probably belonged to a species of Odocoileus. These were found while phosphate rock was being mined; but they, with a tooth of a tapir and one of Equus littoralis, doubtless belong to the early Pleistocene.

3. Archer, Alachua County.—In 1896 Leidy (Trans. Wagner Free Instit., vol. IV, p. X), in a note on the species of vertebrates found in the Alachua clays, included among these a tapir, a mastodon, and a megatherium. In his list furnished for Dr. W. H. Dall’s report (Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. No. 84, p. 129), is included Cervus virginianus?. The tapir, the deer, and the megatherium have been regarded as Pleistocene fossils which became mixed with those of the Pliocene. For that reason Odocoileus is here credited to Archer. See also Sellards’s conclusion (6th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 162). It is not certain exactly where the species above named were found. One locality mentioned by Leidy is 10 miles south of Archer, now Williston; another is 10 miles north of the same town, now Newberry. For the geological age of the species found at Archer, consult page 375.

4. Ocala, Marion County.—From a fissure in a limestone rock at Ocala, Sellards (8th Ann. Rep., p. 103) secured some remains of Odocoileus, but it was not determined to what species they belonged.

5. Dunnellon, Marion County.—The writer (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 43, plate VIII, figs. 3–5) described some teeth of a deer found near Dunnellon, in the “Cullens river mine.” These were referred provisionally to the species or subspecies now living in that region, Odocoileus osceola.

6. Palmetto, Manatee County.—In a small collection of fossil vertebrates sent from this place by Mr. Ernest Leitzel to the U. S. National Museum for identification were some fragments of antlers of Odocoileus.

7. Palma Sola, Manatee County.—From Mr. Charles T. Earle the U. S. National Museum received, in 1921, many fragments of antlers found on the beach at Palma Sola, about 10 miles below Palmetto and on the south side of Manatee River. With these came teeth of Equus leidyi, E. complicatus, E. littoralis, teeth and bone of Bison latifrons?, a tooth of Elephas columbi, and a fragment of the beak of a ziphoid porpoise. The last and various sharks’ teeth probably originated in Miocene deposits not far away. A list of the species found at this place and believed to belong to the Pleistocene is presented on page [379].

8. Arcadia, De Soto County.—In 1889 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1889, p. 96; U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. 84, p. 129), Leidy reported the discovery of antlers of deer, Odocoileus (Cervus) virginianus, at Arcadia. These may have belonged to O. osceola or O. sellardsiæ. In 1884 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. VI, p. 428), Mr. S. T. Walker reported the finding of fossils, among them fragments of deer antlers, on sand-bars in Peace River, from a point about where the town of Hull now is to a point 8 miles by land above Fort Ogden, apparently not far from the present town of Owens. On this matter see Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 109). This locality and its fossils are further described on page [381].

9. Vero, St. Lucie County.—Numerous remains belonging to one or two species of Odocoileus have been found at Vero. Fragments of various parts of the skeleton and some teeth have been found in the two upper strata, No. 2 and No. 3, which lie above the marine marl. The writer (9th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., 1917, pp. 50–57, plate III, fig. 3) referred some of these bones to the new species, O. sellardsiæ. Possibly only this species is represented at that locality, but probably some of the bones belong to O. osceola. Lists of the species found in the two deposits bearing fossil vertebrates will be found on pages [381] to [383].