(Map [23].)
1. Adrian, Lenawee County.—In 1880, Professor J. Kost, of Adrian College, sent to the U. S. National Museum a skull of Castoroides ohioensis and a jaw of a mastodon found in a marsh in the town of Adrian, at a depth of 4 feet. At the same place another mastodon, together with bones of a deer and of an elk, had previously been secured. These belong to a late period in the Wisconsin.
2. Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County.—In 1908 (Folio 155, U. S. Geol. Surv., p. 9), Russell and Leverett told of the finding of bones of elk and deer in a peat-swamp, 3 miles south of Ann Arbor. In the same swamp, at a depth of 5 feet, a skull of Castoroides ohioensis had been discovered. The bones of the elk and deer were at a somewhat higher level. While they are probably of late Pleistocene age, one can not be wholly sure of it.
INDIANA.
(Map [23].)
1. Cambridge City, Wayne County.—In the collection of Earlham College, at Richmond, Indiana, is a part of the skull of an elk (No. 5070) labeled as found a mile northwest of Cambridge City, and as presented by Lee Ault, superintendent [of schools?]. It is recorded on the specimen that it was found in Little Simond’s Creek and lay partly exposed in a bed of gravel 4 rods below the mill-dam, and 0.25 mile from where the creek empties into the West Fork of Whitewater River. The specimen is pretty thoroughly mineralized and stained with iron oxide. The geological age of the skull is uncertain, but it has the appearance of being old. Found in that region, it must, however, be younger than the Shelbyville and Bloomington moraines, which are nearby.
2. Fountain City, Wayne County.—In Earlham College is the rear of the skull of an elk recorded as found on Nolan’s Fork, near the border of the Bloomington moraine. It has the No. 5069 and is credited to Mr. Isaac Thomas. The remark made in the preceding paragraph about the age of the specimen from Cambridge City may be repeated here.
3. Harrisville, Randolph County.—In the collection at Earlham College, Richmond, are some bones which belong to Cervus canadensis and reported found in May 1893, by Messrs. Shoemaker, Graves, and Moore, in a ditch or canal being put through the swamp known then by the name of “The Dismal,” apparently about 6 miles east of Winchester, near the town of Harrisville. It was here that was found the fine specimen of Castoroides ohioensis which is at Earlham. Just at what depth the elk bones were found is not known. With them came some bones of the white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus. Of the elk there are a dorsal and two lumbar vertebræ, most of the sacrum, some pieces of ribs, the articular end of the scapula, a complete humerus, most of the right side of the pelvis, most of the left pubis, the left cubo-navicular bone, the distal end of the left cannon-bone, and three phalanges.
We can not be certain that the animal lived at that place during Pleistocene times. At most, it lived after the Wisconsin ice had withdrawn from that vicinity. Dr. A. J. Phinney (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXI, p. 181) stated that in draining swamps in this county elks’ antlers had been found, but no details were given. At any rate, in that region all such remains would belong to a time following the middle of the Wisconsin stage.
4. Pennville, Jay County.—McCaslin, in his report on the geology of Jay County (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XII, p. 169), stated that the bones of the mastodon and post-glacial deer, or elk, had been frequently met with. “The gigantic antlers of the latter have been found in size indicating an animal 8 or 9 feet high and 10 or 11 in length. These have been picked up in a bog north of Camden.” Making proper allowances for miscalculations, we must conclude that these antlers belonged to the elk (Cervus canadensis). The antlers had probably been laid out so as to give their maximum extent. This township (24 north, range 12 east) is in the northwest corner of the county. The name Camden no longer appears on the maps, being apparently a former name for Pennville. The bog referred to was evidently north of the Salamonie River and close to or on the moraine bearing the same name. The elk must have lived there after, probably a long time after, this moraine was laid down.