The skull was found at the bottom of No. 3, at a depth of 8 feet. It is evident that this animal lived here near, or after, the close of the Wisconsin stage, and after the old Lake Iroquois had withdrawn from the region.
2. Canastota, Madison County.—In 1914, Dr. Burnett Smith, of Syracuse University, reported (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XXXVIII, p. 463) the discovery, at this place, of an incisor tooth of the giant beaver. The exact locality is given as about 225 paces northwest from the southeast line of lot 10, town of Lenox, on Cowaselon Creek, otherwise known as the “State ditch.” The tooth was found at a depth of 9 feet, in a sticky blue clay, containing a few fresh-water shells. Just above this, at a depth of 7 feet, is a layer made up principally of shells, with some vegetable matter. This animal could not have lived here until after the withdrawal of Lake Iroquois, and therefore not till near the close of the Wisconsin stage.
PENNSYLVANIA.
(Map [28].)
1. Stroudsburg, Monroe County.—In 1889, Dr. Joseph Leidy reported (Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Pennsylvania, 1887, p. 14, plate II, figs. 7–20) the discovery of teeth of Castoroides ohioensis in Hartman’s (or Crystal Hill) Cave, about 3 miles southwest of Stroudsburg and 5 miles from Delaware Water Gap. Its elevation is about 800 feet above the level of Delaware River. The species associated with this giant beaver will be listed on page [309]. The parts figured by Leidy are a portion of a palate, with the molars and some of the premolars, and both rami of the lower jaw, showing the three temporary molars and the first true molars, with some incisors and the permanent canines.
OHIO.
1. Nashport, Muskingum County.—In 1836 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 3, vol. XXXI, pp. 79–83), S. P. Hildreth, in an unsigned article, gave an account of the finding of remains of the type specimen of the giant beaver, in association with remains of mastodon and of a supposed fossil sheep, at a point 2 miles north of Nashport. A canal, now abandoned, was being constructed, which followed two small streams, one of which flowed into Licking River, the other into Wakitomika Creek. The land traversed was flat and swampy. The distance from Nashport to Wakitomika Creek is nearly 4 miles, so that in saying that the spot was on this creek Hildreth spoke in general terms. The bones of the mastodon and the right halves of the lower jaws of two giant beavers were found resting on a bed of gravel at a depth of 14 feet. Foster (2d Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Ohio, 1838, p. 80) stated that a molar and a tusk of an elephant had also been found here. Hildreth concluded that the jaws and teeth were perhaps those of an animal of the beaver family; “or, from the grooved outer surfaces of the incisors, a marine animal of the walrus or seal race, and a borderer of the ancient ocean.” It was afterwards described by J. W. Foster (2d Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Ohio, 1837, p. 80, figs.) under the name of Castoroides ohioensis. The remains described consisted of the front end of one side of a lower jaw with its incisor, an upper incisor, and a radius. They showed signs of some attrition; but in a region like that they could not have been transported any considerable distance.
In the mud in which the canal at this point was cut, there were found three skulls of a species of sheep, which Hildreth thought were different from those of the domestic sheep and to which he gave the name of Ovis mamillaris. They are said to have been discovered at a depth of 8 feet. It seems quite possible that they had been lying on or near the surface and had made their way to the side of the canal by the flow of the mud, which gave much trouble by filling up the canal during the night. Most, if not all, of the differences thought to separate these skulls from the domestic sheep disappear on comparison. The specimens of both Castoroides and of the sheep have probably been lost. They appear not to be at Zanesville. On page 82 of the article above cited, Hildreth stated that he had received, from some point on Wills Creek, a portion of a tooth similar to the one found at Nashport; the place was said to be about 40 miles east, apparently, of Zanesville. This would seem to be in Noble County. The tooth was described as being embedded in dark-colored carbonate of lime and as having fallen from a calcareous rock which lies near the tops of the hills, 150 feet above the bed of the creek. It is very probable that this was not a tooth of Castoroides. It may have been the spine of a palæozoic shark.
2. Wilmington, Clinton County.—From Professor W. C. Mills, of the Ohio State University, the writer in 1913 obtained information that a fine skull of Castoroides, without the lower jaw, had been found on the farm of Mr. J. M. Richardson, on the western border of Wilmington. Nothing more has been learned about the discovery. The locality is north of the Hartwell moraine, and the animal must have lived there after the withdrawal of the ice-sheet from that region.