With this tooth there came from the same place a molar of Equus leidyi and some fragments of teeth of Mammut americanum. The writer believes that these species show the presence, along Bogue Chitto, of Pleistocene deposits of about Aftonian age.
2. “Near Gulf of Mexico.”—J. C. Warren, in the second edition of his work, “The Mastodon giganteus of North America,” 1855, page 162, plate XXVIII, figure A, described and figured a part of a large upper molar, probably the hindermost, of an elephant which, as the writer believes, belongs to Elephas imperator. Warren stated merely that this tooth had been found in Alabama, near the Gulf of Mexico. He regarded the tooth as belonging to Elephas primigenius and representing a form with extremely thick plates. Falconer (Palæont. Mem., vol. I, p. 227) described the tooth with somewhat more accuracy than did Warren, although he had only a cast of the tooth. He stated that the specimen presented the middle portion of an enormous last upper molar of the right side. This tooth had lost part of the front by wear and the rear by fracture. There were preserved eight complete ridges and a half of another in front. Falconer said that it bore a close resemblance to the Bollaert tooth found at San Filipe, in Texas, a tooth described in The Geologist, of London, in 1861, 1862, volumes IV and V. He gave the length of the fragment, measured at the base, as 7 inches; the length of the eight hinder ridges, at the base, 6.6 inches; the width of the crown at the third ridge, 4.6 inches; the greatest width behind, 4.9 inches; the height of the last ridge, 8 inches. The average thickness of the plates, including the cement, was 0.8 inch. Warren’s figure shows that the enamel is well crimped. Falconer referred the tooth, with some doubt, to Elephas columbi, but he was not well acquainted with E. imperator. The present writer believes that the tooth belongs to the last species named. It is now in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. The width of the grinding-surface is 110 mm. There are 5 plates in a 100–mm. line. The plates are not curved. The enamel is thick and festooned.
FINDS OF ELEPHANTS OF UNDETERMINED SPECIES IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.
The rather numerous specimens of elephants here described are those whose specific identity can not at present be determined. Often the discovery of elephant remains, especially of teeth, has been reported without any attempt at description or identification; or they may have been referred to Elephas primigenius at a time when no specific distinctions were recognized among our elephants. In probably most cases the specimens reported have been lost. The great majority of them belonged either to Elephas primigenius or to E. columbi. It has seemed worth while to keep record of these unidentified specimens; for equally with the others they show the presence of Pleistocene deposits.
UNGAVA.
1. Long Island, James Bay.—In 1898 (Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. IX, p. 371, fig. 1), Robert Bell reported the discovery of an elephant tooth on Long Island, identified by Boyd Dawkins as that of Elephas columbi; by Cope as probably a variety intermediate between E. columbi and E. primigenius. No measurements were given by Bell, and the tooth was figured obliquely, so its proportions can hardly be determined. Cope regarded it as a hindermost molar, but it appears to be a last milk molar or a first true molar. It is remarkable for the great thickness of the cement between the enamel plates.
The tooth was reported found on the naked rock of an island nearly bare of soil. It might be supposed that a tooth thus exposed would soon have been destroyed by weathering. Lucas (Geol. Surv. Maryland, Pleistocene vol., p. 151) expressed the opinion that it had been carried there by water or ice. One might suppose it had been brought to the island by human agency. Of its geological age nothing can be said, except that it is Pleistocene. This locality is not marked on the map of elephants of undetermined species, as it lies somewhat too far north.
ONTARIO.
(Map [16].)
1. St. Catharines, Lincoln County.—In 1866 (Cat. Casts Foss., p. 37, fig.), Henry A. Ward represented a cast of an elephant tooth which appears to be the lower right hindermost molar. The original is stated to have been found at St. Catharines and to be in a museum at Niagara. It is possible that this is the tooth described on another page as Elephas columbi and now in the Victoria Museum at Toronto; but, while Ward’s figure represents the greater length of the tooth as worn, in the other tooth only 6 plates are worn. It is possible that the figure is incorrectly drawn.