List of species of vertebrates found in Port Kennedy Cave.

Into this list there are admitted 60 species, of which 54 are mammals. Of these, 41 are extinct, not counting the doubtful species unless there is good reason for it. There are, therefore, 68 per cent of the species extinct.

No remains of Rana were mentioned by Cope in his list of 1899. One species unnamed was recorded by Wheatley in his lists of 1871 and by Mercer in his paper of 1899. The turkey (Meleagris superbus) was not included by Cope in 1899, but it was included by Wheatley and Mercer and Cope in their papers of 1871 and in that of Cope in 1896 (p. [378]). Mercer (1899, p. 280) mentions a leg-bone of a turkey, with spur, found by Wheatley. Remains of Megalonyx were abundant, but of M. loxodon only a single tooth was met with. Mylodon, believed to be M. harlani, was found only by Wheatley and was represented, as stated by Cope, by only a claw phalanx. The horse remains were originally (Cope, 1895, p. 447) referred to Equus major (=E. complicatus). Mercer, in 1899, in his figure 9, following Cope’s nomenclature, uses the name E. complicatus. In 1899, Cope concluded that the equine remains represented two races of Equus fraternus, E. f. fraternus and E. f. pectinatus. The present writer believes that the teeth referred to the subspecies fraternus are too large to belong to the species which was called E. fraternus, but which is now called E. leidyi. Only a single species of tapir, Tapirus haysii, was recognized. Cope (1895, p. 447) stated that it was the most abundant of the larger mammals. Cope (1899, p. 257) reported that 18 individual peccaries were represented by teeth, while bones were numerous. He recognized the presence of three species. The identifications of Mylohyus nasutus and M. pennsylvanicus were uncertain. A new species, M. tetragonus, was based on a ramus of a lower jaw. Milk molars were yet present and the third molar had not appeared. Cope spoke of the long diastema; but, to judge from his figure, the diastema equals only about the length of the milk molars and the first molar.

Cope, in 1899, described Teleopternus orientalis, basing it on a few teeth which belonged to three individuals. He was doubtful about the family position of the animal, but put it provisionally in the Camelidæ. In many respects the teeth resembled those of the Cervidæ. Matthew (Osborn, Age of Mammals, p. 469) has suggested its affinity to Ovibos.

Two species of deer were found in the cave, of which one was not distinguishable from Odocoileus virginianus. In Wheatley’s second list of 1871 and that of Cope of the same year there was recorded an undetermined species of Bos (Bison). Mercer (1899, p. 280) recorded from the Wheatley collection remains of three individuals of one species of the same genus. In Cope’s paper on the remains of this cave nothing is said about the genus; but in 1872 (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., XII, p. 96) he stated that Bos was represented by a part of a femur and some other bones. Hence in the list given above an undetermined species of Bison is included.

Abundant remains of the mastodon occurred in the cave, but none of any of the elephants. One need not, however, on that account conclude that elephants were not living in that region at that time.

It will be observed that a considerable number of rodents is included in the list. One species of porcupine is recognized. This was at first regarded by Cope as an extinct form and called Erethizon cloacinum; but in 1899 he referred all the remains, with some doubt, to the existing species, E. dorsatum. Cope found remains of about 50 individuals of a species of rabbit which he determined as Lepus sylvaticus, but this is now called Sylvilagus floridanus. In the Wheatley collection a species of bat was recognized and put in Vespertilio. Probably it belonged to Myotis.

Bears were abundantly present in the cave. One species, Arctotherium haplodon, was larger than the grizzly bear and represented by parts of about 25 individuals. A smaller bear, indicated by 8 individuals, appeared to be in no way different from the existing black bear, Ursus americanus. Of skunks there are listed 7 species, belonging to 3 genera, all the species being extinct except a supposed Mephitis putida. Besides these mustelids, there have been identified remains of the existing badger, the existing glutton, an extinct weasel, Mustela diluviana, and an extinct otter, Lutra rhoadsii. Remains of true dogs were not abundant in the collection. Cope recognized, however, 2 species of the genus Canis, one of about the size of the more common form of the existing wolf; the other exceeding in size the largest wolf known to him. This he thought might belong to Leidy’s Canis indianensis (=C. dirus Leidy). There were present 2 foxes, the existing gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) and an extinct species, U. latidentatus. Of the cat family a species, thought at first to be a hyæna (Crocuta), received the name Felis inexpectata. It had the size of the jaguar, and was represented by teeth and various bones. An extinct lynx, much like Lynx ruffus, was present. Another cat was identified as Felis eyra. Of this species G. S. Miller (Bull. 79, U. S. Nat. Mus., p. 116) remarks that its type locality is Paraguay and that it is supposed to range north to Central America. It appears somewhat doubtful, therefore, that the fossil remains belong to this species. Nevertheless, the progenitors of the species, in their wandering from Asia or Alaska to Central America and Paraguay, might have sent a colony into Pennsylvania, later to become extinct. Cope stated (1899, p. 250) that there was an isolated calcaneum in the collection which was of the proper size for Felis eyra, but which differed from that of this species. Two species of saber-tooth cats were found, Smilodontopsis gracilis and S. mercerii. The former is represented by various bones and teeth, especially by a damaged skull which presents the dentition. The crown of the great canine is 113 mm. long.

Besides the species included in the list given above, there are a few whose presence for one reason or another is doubtful. In both of his lists of 1871 Wheatley reported the presence of Crotalus, Coluber, and Tropidonotus (Natrix). Cope (1871, p. 98) said that the reptiles included three or four serpents, but in 1895 (p. [447]) he wrote that two species of Ophidia were recognized. In his final paper he mentioned only his Zamenis acuminatus, here referred to Coluber. Wheatley (1871, p. 255) recorded an unidentified snipe as belonging to Scolopax. Cope (1871, p. 98) wrote that a snipe was one of two species of birds present. Mercer (1889, p. 280) recognized the same remains as belonging to a species of Gallinago. Wheatley in his last list (1871, p. 384) and Cope (1871, p. 98) reported Scalopus (Scalopus) as being represented by an undetermined species. It is catalogued by Mercer in the same way. Cope (1895, p. 447) stated that the raccoon was very rare; but it was not mentioned in any of his later papers. On the same page he wrote that there were fragments of teeth closely similar to those of Bassariscus astutus; but the species was not mentioned afterward.