Sellards (Florida Geol. Surv., vol. VII, pp. 72, 110) has reported the collection of remains of Hipparion sp. indet. and of Teleoceras proterus (p. [211]) from phosphate mines at Mulberry. In the U. S. National Museum are undetermined remains of Gomphotherium from the same place, sent in by Matson.
Brevard County.—In the Hopkins drainage canal at Eau Gallie have been found remains of Equus complicates (p. [196]) and Elephas columbi (p. [159]).
Zolfo, Hardee County.—At Zolfo, near the border of the Bone Valley area, have been found Megatherium (p. [38]) and Elephas columbi (p. [160]).
De Soto County.—With one exception, apparently, fossil vertebrates have been discovered in De Soto County only in deposits along Peace Creek. The exception is a place called Tourner’s or Turner’s, on Caloosahatchee River. The elephant found there will be considered among the fossils found in Lee County. At Calvenia, at the entrance of Charlie Apopkee Creek into Peace Creek, Equus leidyi (p. [198]) has been secured.
Most of the fossils found below Calvenia are accredited to Arcadia. According to Leidy (Trans. Wagner Inst., vol. II, p. 19), those of his list were found on a sand-bar at Arcadia; but certainly others have been taken from phosphate rock dredged both above and below the town. As complete and as accurate a list as the writer has been able to prepare is here presented.
Peace Creek, or Peace River, has been the source of many fossil vertebrates, the greater part of them obtained at or near Arcadia. Most of the species were described by Joseph Leidy in 1889 (Trans. Wagner Free Inst., vol. II, pp. 19–31). The region was examined by Dr. W. H. Dall, whose report was published in 1892 (Bull. 84, U. S. Geol. Surv., pp. 128–133). He referred the bed bearing vertebrate fossils to the Pliocene. Cope (in Dall’s report, p. 130) regarded them as equivalent to the Equus beds of the Great Plains, or between these and the Loup Fork. Sellards (Florida Geol. Surv., vol. VII, pp. 78–83) places the formation in the Pleistocene.
List of fossil vertebrates found in Peace Creek at or near Arcadia.
- Elephas imperator (p. [164]).
- E. columbi (p. [160]).
- Mammut americanum (p. [124]).
- Bison sp. indet. (p. [264]).
- Odocoileus osceola? (p. [233]).
- Tapirus terrestris (p. [208]).
- Equus leidyi (p. [199]).
- E. littoralis (p. [199]).
- Hipparion ingenuum (p. [199]).
- Delphinid sp. indet.
- Trichechus antiquus.
- Glyptodon petaliferus (p. [39]).
- Glyptodon rivipacis (p. [40]).
- Chlamytherium septentrionale (p. [40]).
- Megalonyx jeffersonii (p. [39]).
- Alligator mississippiensis?.
- Testudo crassiscutata.
- T. obtusa.
- Trachemys euglypha.
- Macrochelys floridana.
- Chætodipterus faber.
- Diodon sp. indet.
- Myliobatis sp. indet.
- Galeocerdo sp. indet.
- Isurus sp. indet.
Of all the genera and species of mammals and reptiles appearing in the list, there is none that it is necessary to suppose was derived from Pliocene deposits, or even from those of a Pleistocene stage earlier than the first interglacial. The marine fishes and sharks have been derived possibly from the Arcadia marls. On the other hand, the presence of Elephas imperator, the species of Equus, Hipparion, Glyptodon, Chlamytherium, and the gigantic tortoise Testudo crassiscutata furnishes evidence that the age was about that of the Equus, or Aftonian, beds of the Great Plains.
St. Lucie County.—At Fellsmere, a place near the northern border of the county and about 10 miles west of Indian River, teeth of both Elephas columbi (p. [159]) and Mammut americanum (p. [122]) have been found, in the construction of drainage canals.