1. Natchez, Adams County.—In 1849 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. IV, p. 182), Dr. Leidy wrote that there was in the collection of the Academy a tooth of a tapir discovered by Dr. M. W. Dickeson near Natchez. It had been found in association with remains of the mastodon and the horse Equus americanus (=E. complicatus). The tooth was pronounced a lower molar of the left side, apparently the third milk molar, and was referred to Tapirus americanus fossilis; that is, it was looked upon as a fossil tooth of the existing South American tapir. The molar was mentioned by Leidy in 1860 (Holmes’s “Post-Pliocene Fossils of South Carolina,” p. 106). The writer has seen this tooth in the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia.
In 1852 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. VI, p. 148), Leidy called the attention of the Academy to a fragment of a left lower jaw with 2 teeth of a tapir found in the Pleistocene near Natchez and sent to Leidy by the geologist B. L. C. Wailles. It was referred to Tapirus haysii. This specimen was figured and described by Leidy in 1860 (Holmes’s “Post-Pliocene Fossils of South Carolina,” p. 107, plate XVII, figs. 4, 5). Wailles mentioned this jaw in his work (Agric. Geol. Mississippi, 1854, p. 285), and stated that it was found in a ravine on Pine Ridge, which runs through townships 7 and 8, range 3 west, about 6 miles north of Natchez.
In a list (furnished by Dr. Joseph Leidy) of fossil mammals found in the Pleistocene of Mississippi, 2 species of tapirs are included, viz, Tapirus americanus (=T. terrestris) and T. haysii (Wailles, op. cit., p. 286; Hilgard, Agric. Geol. Mississippi, 1860, p. 196). The associated species will be listed on page [391].
TENNESSEE.
1. Whitesburg, Hamblen County.—In the U. S. National Museum is a collection of bones and teeth of several species of vertebrates, made in what may once have been the floor of a cave, near the village mentioned. On page [395] will be found a list of the species. Among the remains are 10 teeth, in fine preservation, of a young tapir, described by the writer (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. LVIII, p. 88, plate III, figs. 4 to 11), and made the type of a new species, Tapirus tennesseæ.
2. Dandridge, Jefferson County.—On the left bank of Dumplin (or Dumpling) Creek, about 5 miles above its entrance into French Broad River, and apparently about as many miles northwest from Dandridge, is a cavern known as Zirkel’s Cave. Dr. H. C. Mercer briefly described (Dept. Amer. and Prehist. Archæology, Univ. Penn., 1896) his investigation of the cave. He reported the finding of remains of tapir, peccary, bear, and small rodents; but these were not specifically determined.
3. Lookout Mountain, Hamilton County.—In 1894 (Amer. Naturalist, vol. XXVIII, p. 356), Mercer reported that he had found teeth of a tapir in a cave on Lookout Mountain. Cope, on page 597 of the same volume, identified these teeth as those of T. haysii. With them was found a bone, thought to belong to a mylodon.
According to a letter received by the writer from Dr. Mercer, the tapir specimen consisted of a lower right ramus, 1 left incisor, and 5 molars. The teeth appear all to have been loose and the jawbone was broken into about 8 fragments. The cave and its contents will be discussed on page [398].
4. Bristol, Sullivan County.—In the U. S. National Museum are 2 tapir teeth in a fragment of the left maxilla. These are the fourth premolar and the first molar, both considerably worn. The size of these teeth indicates that they belong to Tapirus haysii.