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.

(Maps [5], [10].)

It has not been practicable to arrange the figures on the map of mastodons in Florida in an orderly manner. Below, the localities are described by beginning at the northern end of the State and ending at the southern end.

1. Marianna, Jackson County.—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 324) is a tooth of Mammut americanum, recorded as having been sent to the National Institute, September 25, 1847, by Walter Yonge, from Marianna. No additional information has been preserved. It is a large upper right last molar, with 5 cross-crests, a hinder talon, and nearly complete roots. Marianna is situated on Chipola River.

12. Little River, Gadsden County.—Dr. E. H. Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., 1916, p. 104) reported that a tooth of Mammut americanum had been obtained from Little River.

2. Fort White, Columbia County.—Dr. E. H. Sellards reported to the writer the discovery of a tooth of Mammut americanum at a point 3 miles northwest of Fort White. No details have been received. The town is on Santa Fe River.

3. Citra, Marion County.—In Ward’s Natural History Establishment, at Rochester, New York, the writer saw in January 1914, 2 cross-crests of a probably hindermost upper molar of Mammut americanum. There had been present a large pulp-cavity. Nothing definite about the history of the specimen could be obtained, except that it had been found at Citra.

15. Neals, Alachua County.—From this locality Sellards (5th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 58) reported the discovery of a mastodon, probably Gomphotherium floridanum. Associated with this species was an undetermined species of Hipparion. At the same place has been found Tapirus terrestris? On his plates IV and V of the same volume, Sellards has figured teeth belonging to two undetermined species of mastodons. All of these fossils came from the phosphate deposits at Neals.

16. Archer, Alachua County.—Dr. Joseph Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1886, p. 11) reported that Dr. W. H. Dall had discovered at Archer remains of a mastodon to which Leidy gave the name Mastodon floridanus. It is here referred to the genus Gomphotherium. It was associated in the Alachua clays with a species of Hipparion, three species of Procamelus, and a rhinoceros; also an astragalus of Megatherium. All of these, except the last, are usually referred to the Lower Pliocene or the Upper Miocene. The writer believes that they belong to the lowest Pleistocene, the Nebraskan.

17. Williston, Levy County.—Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1887, p. 309) reported the finding of several species of fossil vertebrates in the Mixon bone-bed, at or near Williston. The species were Gomphotherium floridanum, Hipparion plicatile, Procamelus major, and Teleoceras proterus. These were found in the Alachua clays at depths from 2.5 to 6 feet. In Dall’s list of 1892 (Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. No. 84, p. 129) Hipparion ingenuum is included.

18. Juliette, Marion County.—Sellards, in 1913 (5th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 58), stated that Gomphotherium floridanum had been found in hard phosphate in a mine at this place. As in other such cases, he referred the species to the Upper Miocene or the Lower Pliocene.

5. Dunnellon, Marion County.—In the collection of the Florida Geological Survey is a fragment of a molar of Mammut americanum which was dredged up from Withlacoochee River during operations by the Schilman and Bene Phosphate Company. It was presented by John D. Robertson.

In the possession of Mr. J. D. Robertson of Ocala, Florida, is a part of a skull of Mammut americanum, reported by him to have been found in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 1, township 17 south, range 19 east. This would be about 6 miles east of Dunnellon and not far from Withlacoochee River.

In the region about Dunnellon the mastodon Gomphotherium floridanum has been collected. For the list of species found at Dunnellon and in Withlacoochee River the reader may consult page 376.

19. Near San Pablo Beach, Duval County.—From station 120, on the Inland Waterway, near San Pablo Beach, Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 106) reported the discovery of a tooth of Mammut americanum in place in the bank of the canal. Remains of Elephas columbi and undetermined species of Bison and Odocoileus had been thrown out by the dredge.

4. Almero Farm, St. John County.—At the residence of Mr. Fred R. Allen, 113 King street, St. Augustine, Florida, the writer had the privilege of examining seven teeth of Mammut americanum which had been found near Mr. Allen’s farm, 28 miles south of St. Augustine, in the Inland Waterway Canal. At the same place Mr. Allen had found remains of a fossil horse, a mylodon, alligator, and a part of the plastron of Terrapene antipex. The deposits are to be regarded as belonging to some part of the first half of the Pleistocene, probably the first interglacial.

6. Daytona, Volusia County.—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 2150) is an upper left last molar of Mammut americanum, sent in August 1901 from Daytona by E. T. Conrad & Company. It had been found at a depth of 5 feet in an old oyster-bed which was being dug up for surfacing the streets. The locality is within the limits of the town and about 2 miles from the Atlantic coast. The senders reported a little later that they had found four other teeth, a piece of tusk 40 inches long and 7 inches in diameter, and about a bushel of bones and fragments. There appeared to be other bones in the pit, but nothing more is on record. Since that mastodon died there, the land appears to have been depressed beneath the sea, permitting the growth of the oyster-bed, after which there was again an elevation.

13. Fellsmere, St. Lucie County.—Dr. E. H. Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 105) stated that Mammut americanum, represented by a tooth or teeth, had been found at Fellsmere in connection with the construction of drainage canals.

7. Vero, St. Lucie County.—At this place have been found well-preserved remains of Mammut americanum. Besides a part of a lower jaw, there are some parts of tusks and fragments of other parts. The right side of a palate containing the second and the third true molars, found in what has been called stratum No. 2, has been figured by Sellards (8th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., plate XXXI). The age of these will be discussed on pages [381]–[384].

14. Palm Beach, Palm Beach County.—In his report of 1916, already cited, Dr. Sellards noted the fact, on page 105, that several teeth of Mammut americanum had been obtained by him, 8 miles west of the Florida East Coast Railroad, in the canal constructed to drain the Everglades. From the same canal had been secured Elephas columbi, Equus complicatus, and a femur of a species of Bison. Sellards informs us that the vertebrate fossils here, as at Vero and many other localities, are embedded in the sand and muck beds which lie above the Pleistocene marls.

8. Hillsboro County.—Remains of mastodon have been reported from various places in this county, but the localities have not been very exactly defined.

In the National Museum (No. 6726) is a lower left hindermost molar of Mammut americanum which was sent by Mr. W. L. Spitler, of Tampa. Exactly where it was found is not recorded. The tooth is white and well preserved. There are five cross-crests. The cones are unusually low, and such teeth may possibly represent an undescribed species.

At Heidelberg University, Tiffin, Ohio, the writer has seen a mastodon tooth, labeled as having come from Tampa Bay. The tooth is heavy and rock-like. A part of an atlas of the mastodon is from the same place.

In the collection of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, is a lower right last molar of a mastodon, labeled as having been found at Sulphur Springs, Hillsboro County. The writer has not found where this place is situated. All of the specimens mentioned belong to Mammut americanum.

9. Alafia River, Hillsboro County.—Dr. E. H. Sellards (7th Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 112, fig. 45) records the finding of an upper right last molar of Mammut americanum in this river. The tooth is unworn and has four cross-crests and a large talon. It was preserved in the collection of S. A. Robinson. With a collection of teeth of Equus found in Alafia River and preserved in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, is a single cross-crest of Mammut americanum.

20. Brewster, Polk County.—In his report of 1915 (p. 106, fig. 36) Dr. E. H. Sellards figured a fragment of a tusk, found in a phosphate mine, which he supposed might belong to Gomphotherium floridanum. He figured also a tooth (p. 104, fig. 34) which he definitely referred to this species, but it is not clear that it was found at Brewster. A list of the species found associated with the tusk will be found on page [380]. Among these species is Mammut progenium, a species ranging from the Aftonian to the Late Wisconsin. While all the species of the list are referred by Sellards to the Upper Miocene or Lower Pliocene, M. progenium appears to favor a later reference.

10. Pains Creek, Polk? County.—In the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, is a tooth of Mammut americanum recorded as having been found on Pains Creek, 50 miles from Tampa. It appears to be a second milk molar; the length is 43 mm., the width at the second crest likewise 43 mm.

There is a Big Pains Creek in the northwestern corner of Polk County, which empties into Peace Creek. A little further south is Little Pains Creek, which empties into Peace Creek in De Soto County, near Bowling Green. On which of these the tooth was found can not be determined.

11. Peace Creek, De Soto County.—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 1990) is an upper right hindermost molar recorded as having been found on Peace River. It was a part of the exhibit of the Plant System at the Centennial Exposition at Atlanta, Georgia. It is credited also to the Peace River Phosphate Company. Probably the tooth was found somewhere not far from Arcadia. Leidy (Bull. 84, U. S. Geol. Surv., p. 129) does not record the species from Arcadia, but his undetermined species of the genus may have been M. americanum.

The tooth mentioned above has five cross-crests and a conical talon. At the ends of the transverse valleys are large tubercles.