Mr. S. W. Rhoads has examined this tooth and concluded that it belonged to Bison bison. To this view it seems sufficient to say that in Bison teeth the outer face of each of the lobes is very convex and column-like, while the parastyle and especially the mesostyle are relatively small. In the Pittston tooth the mesostyle stands out beyond the outer face of the hinder lobe, and the latter is nearly flat; this is also the condition in Symbos. The writer will say further that the accessory column is not always present in teeth of Symbos.
2. Riegelsville, Bucks County.—Mr. Rhoads, as cited above, on pages [246] to [248], described a part of a horn-core of a bovine animal to which he applied the name Bison appalachicolus. Later (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1897, p. 492) he concluded that the horn-core had belonged to an animal of the genus Ovibos; and accordingly it bears the name O. appalachicolus. Leidy had in 1889 called attention to a collection of bones made in Durham Cave, near Riegelsville (Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv., Pennsylvania, for 1887, pp. 18–19). He recorded 20 species, all of which lived there or at most, not far away, when the country was discovered. These may have all entered the cave at a later period, but the musk-ox may have antedated the others. A list of these fossils is presented on page [311].
OHIO.
(Map [25].)
1. Urbana, Champaign County.—At Urbana, Ohio, in the possession of Mr. Charles McDarg, the writer has seen a skull of Symbos cavifrons which had been found on the farm of Ed. Jennings, while a ditch was being dug. It was buried in mud at a depth of 10 feet. This region is covered by the Wisconsin drift, and the animal must have lived not long after the ice had withdrawn from the neighborhood.
2. Youngstown, Mahoning County.—In the geological collection of the Ohio State University is a part of a skull of Ovibos moschatus secured at Youngstown. The specimen shows the base of the skull and the forehead. Between the bases of the horns is a narrow channel, characteristic of Ovibos. The specimen shows the effects of abrasion, the horn-cores being worn down to their bases. The specimen is said to have been found in gravel at a depth of 60 feet. It appears to have been presented in 1890 by H. McGinnis. It is probable that this skull was found along Mahoning River, but the elevation was, unfortunately, not given. The probability is that the deposits inclosing the fossil were laid down during the Wisconsin stage.
According to Leverett (Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., XLI, p. 149), the old trough of Beaver River was filled with gravel during the Wisconsin glacial stage, and this filling is now in process of excavation. The same is probably true of its tributary, the Mahoning. If the skull was buried in this gravel its age is thereby determined.
3. Trumbull County.—In 1853 (Smith. Contrib. Knowl., vol. V, art. 3, p. 16), Leidy stated that he had received, for inspection, from Professor Samuel St. John, of Hudson, Ohio, a fragment of a skull, with one horn-core attached, which had been found in Trumbull County. No further details were given as to the locality or of the geological conditions. The skull appeared to be much water-worn. It belongs to Symbos cavifrons. Trumbull County is wholly occupied by Wisconsin drift. The animal is, then, probably to be credited to the Late Wisconsin. It is possible, however, that this skull was found in an older deposit exposed in the valley of some stream.
MICHIGAN.
(Map [25].)