1. Niantic, Macon County.—In 1873, Worthen, State geologist of Illinois, reported (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. V, p. 308) that he had found some deer bones in a bog near Niantic; with them were remains of the mastodon, buffalo, and elk. What is known regarding the locality and the geology is here recorded on page [102]. All these remains were probably buried near the close of the Wisconsin glacial stage.
2. Whitewillow, Kendall County.—In Netta C. Anderson’s list, page 11. E. S. Riggs, assistant curator of palæontology in Field Museum of Natural History, reported that in 1902 Mr. John Bamford, in enlarging a spring in a bog, encountered a layer of about 2 feet of bison, deer, and elk bones at a depth of about 5 feet. With these were found skulls of at least 6 mastodons. From Mr. George Langford, of Joliet, the writer has received a base of a large antler and a nearly complete small antler of the right side. These are not to be distinguished from those of O. virginianus. Mr. Langford wrote that the mastodon bones were mingled with the other bones to the bottom of the pit dug. In the same excavation were found remains of mastodon, Cervalces, the existing moose, the elk, the buffalo, and the cannon-bone of a large sheep-like animal. The exact levels in which these bones occurred is not known. The reader may consult page 109.
3. Ottawa, La Salle County.—J. D. Caton (“Antelopes and Deer of North America,” p. 227) tells of having found a nearly complete skeleton and three antlers of the Virginia deer in the valley of Fox River, near Ottawa. These remains were in a stratum of gravel at a depth of more than 16 feet. Over this was the surface loam, then sand, sand and clay, then more sand. It seems probable that these deposits belonged to the Late Wisconsin.
4. Evanston, Cook County.—Dr. Frank C. Baker (Univ. Ills. Bull, XVII, pp. 4, 86) presented a geological section taken in the Toleston beach at Evanston. This beach was laid down after the withdrawal of the Wisconsin ice. At the depth of about 9 feet was found a bone of a deer. In 1891, W. K. Higley (Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., vol. II, No. 1, p. XIV) reported that a pelvis, referred to a deer, had been found in Late Wisconsin deposits at Evanston. He had in mind the bone found in Toleston beach. At the same place was found a femur of a deer at a depth of 9 feet (Leverett, Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci. Geol. Nat. Hist. Surv., II, 1897, pp. 76, 77). Apparently the femur and the pelvis had been discovered by Dr. Oliver Marcy in 1864, from whom both Leverett and Baker quote the geological section.
5. Lemont, Cook County.—Dr. F. C. Baker (op. cit., pp. 56, 89) reported the finding of a portion of a skull of Odocoileus virginianus and a skull of the muskrat in the Des Plaines Valley, at Lemont, in a bed of peat.
WISCONSIN.
(Map [22].)
1. Lead region.—In 1862 (Geol. Surv. Wisconsin, p. 421), Jeffries Wyman, in his report on the vertebrate animals found by J. D. Whitney, stated that there was a series of several molar teeth which, in form and size, corresponds exactly with those of the red deer (Cervus virginianus). He mentioned also various bones which seemed to belong to the same species, but some were larger than those of the Virginia deer.
In 1876 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XI, p. 49), Allen described as a new species Cervus whitneyi, basing the name on a left humerus, a left radius, and a right metatarsal found in the Whitney collection. It appears probable that these bones are those mentioned by Wyman as being larger than the existing Virginia deer and the mule deer. Allen does not, however, mention what Wyman wrote. Allen’s species is now referred to the genus Odocoileus. It is not stated by either Wyman or Allen even from what State the remains were secured. It is most probable that it was Wisconsin.
From the Pleistocene of that region two species of Odocoileus are therefore known, O. virginianus and O. whitneyi.