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 [26].)

1. Wade, Alachua County.—In the collection of the Florida Geological Survey is an upper left last molar of Bison, found in the Buttgenbach river mine, in Santa Fe River, 6 miles north from Wade. Although this tooth was found in a phosphate mine, it certainly belongs to Pleistocene time. The tooth is but little worn and is well fossilized. Its height is 45 mm., the length on the outer face 30 mm., the length at the middle of the width 27 mm., the width at the base of the first lobe 24 mm.

There is another tooth in the collection, apparently the second upper molar of the left side, from the same place and fossilized in the same way. For a list of the species found at this locality and the writer’s view regarding their geological age, the reader is referred to page 376.

2. Pablo Beach, Duval County.—In the collection just mentioned there are, from near Pablo Beach, three bones which apparently belonged to some extinct species of Bison. No. 4444 is the left fibular bone; No. 4443 the left third cuneiform of the hinder foot; and No. 4442, a first phalange of a hinder foot. These were found along the Inland Waterway Canal, about 20 miles north of St. Augustine. The locality appears to be about 5 miles south of Pablo Beach. At the same place have been found Mammut americanum, Elephas columbi, and remains of a species of Odocoileus.

3. Ocala, Marion County.—Sellards (op. cit., p. 103) reported remains of an undetermined species of Bison found in a fissure in limestone rock near Ocala.

4. Dunnellon?, Marion County.—Sellards (op. cit., p. 104) presented a list of Pleistocene vertebrates, found in or along Withlacoochee River, but the exact localities are not given. Among these is an undetermined species of Bison. Lucas (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. XXI, 1898, p. 767) stated that there is in the U. S. National Museum an imperfect skull of Bison latifrons, obtained from Withlacoochee River. The writer has not seen this skull. On page [376] the other species found here are listed and their geological age discussed.

5. Tampa, Manatee County.—In the Jarman collection, now in Vanderbilt University, and made in the region about Tampa, is a right lower third molar of Bison. It is well fossilized, but structurally does not appear to differ from a tooth of the existing American bison. It belonged, however, quite certainly to an extinct species. In the American Museum of Natural History, New York, is a well-worn lower left last molar of a bison, dredged up in Alafia River. With it were a mastodon tooth, teeth of two or three extinct horses, and various extinct tortoises. The reader is referred to page 379.

6. Palmetto, Manatee County.—Mr. Ernest Leitzel, of Palmetto, sent from that place to the U. S. National Museum some teeth for determination. Teeth of the horses are described on page [379]. With these was a part of a lower right molar, possibly the last molar, of Bison.

From Palma Sola, on the south side of Manatee River and about 10 miles below Palmetto, there has been sent to the U. S. National Museum, by Mr. Charles T. Earle, the distal end of a metacarpal bone. This has a width of 93 mm. It may have belonged to Bison latifrons. With it came teeth of Equus complicatus, E. littoralis, and E. leidyi, a part of an antler of a deer (Odocoileus), a part of a beak of a platanistid porpoise, and a tooth of Elephas columbi. Probably the porpoise and teeth of sharks came from Miocene deposits somewhere in the neighborhood.

7. Grove City, Charlotte County.—Leidy, in 1889 (Trans. Wagner Free Inst., vol. II, p. 12), stated that Mr. Joseph Willcox had found, on Rocky Creek, 30 miles north of Sarasota Bay, some remains of the great extinct Bison latifrons. Sellards (8th Rep., pp. 103, 112) learned that the locality was really Stump Pass, near Grove City. The horn-core was lost by accident, but Leidy speaks of it as being huge. With it was the proximal part of a radius whose upper end measured transversely 1.4 times that of an existing bison.

In a letter to the author, Mr. Willcox writes that, as nearly as he can recollect, the diameter of the horn-core was about 5 or 6 inches.

8. Vero, St. Lucie County.—Sellards (8th Rep., Florida Geol. Surv., p. 150) stated that an extinct bison is represented in the collection of the Florida Geological Survey by a number of teeth, the distal end of a humerus, and some foot-bones. They were supposed to have been derived from stratum No. 2.

When in Vero in 1916, the writer secured a much-worn upper left premolar 3 of Bison from the base of the muck layer No. 3. It is in some respects different from the corresponding tooth of the existing bison. For lists of the species found at Vero and for a discussion of the geological age the reader may consult pages 381 to 383.

9. Arcadia, De Soto County.—In the U. S. National Museum are some teeth of Bison, obtained at or near Arcadia, on Peace Creek. In general, these resemble closely the corresponding teeth of B. bison. Leidy (Trans. Wagner Free Inst., vol. II, p. 22) mentioned a tooth and a first phalanx of Bison from Peace Creek. These are probably in the collection of the Wagner Free Institute.

In the U. S. National Museum (No. 1989) is a hinder cannon-bone from Arcadia. It resembles the corresponding bone in B. bison, but doubtless belonged to a species now extinct. Lucas (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. XXI, p. 767) referred the teeth and the metacarpal to B. latifrons.

In the same museum is a calcaneum labeled as collected on Peace Creek by J. F. Le Barron. The reader may consult page 381 for further information.

10. Labelle, Lee County.—Remains of Bison apparently have been found at Labelle, or near there. Leidy, in Dall’s report (Bull. No. 84, U. S. Geol. Surv., p. 129) referred this to B. latifrons. The bison, Elephas columbi, Equus fraternus, and a mylodon were supposed to have been buried in Pliocene deposits, but this opinion appears to be erroneous. Sellards (8th Rep., p. 102) has shown that the elephant and probably the horse were in Pleistocene marls. As shown on page [384], the elephant is Elephas imperator.

11. Palm Beach, Palm Beach County.—In his eighth report, Sellards (p. [105]) stated that a femur of an undetermined species of Bison was found near this place, in the Palm Beach Drainage Canal. In the collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Harvard University, are a front cannon-bone, lacking the epiphyses, and the proximal end of a humerus. The size of these indicates that they belong to B. latifrons. The glenoid cavity measures 80 mm. by 60 mm. The neck of the humerus is 100 mm. wide.