VIRGINIA.
(Map [26].)
1. Saltville, Smyth County.—In the U. S. National Museum is an upper second molar of a species of Bison, found at Saltville. It was sent in 1904 by Mr. H. D. Mount, of Saltville, with remains of Elephas primigenius and Mammut americanum. It is understood that all were found in excavating for the water reservoir of the town. The bison tooth is little worn, the height being still 46 mm. At the summit the crown is 34 mm. long, at the base 23 mm. long and 29 mm. wide. It resembles closely that of Bison bison, but is slightly larger than the same tooth in a large specimen of the existing species. The base of the skull is present, with the occipital condyles. The latter are slightly larger than in the specimen of B. bison just mentioned. The species can not be determined, but it probably was not B. bison. A list of the associated species found at this locality is presented on page [352].
2. Ivanhoe, Wythe County.—In 1869 (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. XI, p. 176), Professor Cope stated that he had found molar teeth of a bison which he identified with doubt as Bison antiquus. The animal may quite as well have belonged to any one of four or five other extinct species.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
(Map [26].)
1. Charleston, Charleston County.—In 1860, Leidy (Holmes’s Post-Pl. Foss. South Carolina, p. 110, plate XVII, figs. 15, 16) described briefly and figured a tooth of a bovine animal found in the Pleistocene of Ashley River. This he suspected belonged to Bison latifrons, but he added that it presented nothing to distinguish it from that of the existing bison. Numerous teeth resembling those of the domestic ox and the bison have been found on Ashley River and have been regarded as those of the domestic animal. (See letter of Agassiz to Professor F. S. Holmes in the Introduction to Holmes’s work cited above.) While the teeth of our cattle may have been picked up along the shores of Ashley River, it is highly probable that the great majority of similar teeth belonged to some extinct species of Bison. Probably only the discovery of horn-cores will lead to the determination of the species. Leidy probably used the name Bison latifrons in a very wide sense. In the collection at Amherst College the writer has seen an upper molar of a bison, apparently the second molar, which is 38 mm. long on the outer face. This length is too great for B. bison and the tooth probably belongs to B. latifrons. It was probably found in the region about Charleston.
In the Charleston Museum the writer has seen an anterior cannon-bone of Bison which had quite certainly been found somewhere about Charleston. The following measurements were secured, and corresponding measurements of B. bison are added for comparison:
| Measurements of anterior cannon-bones of bisons, in millimeters. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fossil bison. | B. bison. | |
| Length along the outer border | 242 | 206 |
| Width of upper articular surface | 90 | |
| Side-to-side diameter at middle of length | 64 | 52 |
| Fore-and-aft diameter at middle of length | 39 | 33 |
| Width of lower articular surface | 96 | 91 |
Other measurements may be found in J. A. Allen’s work, “The American Bisons,” page 45. Apparently the bison which possessed the bone described above had a height about one-eighth greater than the large individual of the existing bison compared with it. Fossil remains found elsewhere show that at least one large species of Bison formerly inhabited this country. B. latifrons was a species with very large horns, and its body may also have been larger than that of the existing bison. To this species may have belonged the large cannon-bone described above.