180 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



The evidence which I propose to adduce for the correctness of my assertion 

 that these are true fossils, will the better appear by the following extracts from 

 a pamphlet issued a short time since, and which, in consequence of the great 

 demand, has passed through two editions, and is now again out of print. 



In a letter to Dr. Nott and Mr. Gliddon,* dated Feb. 10, 1857, Prof. Leidy 

 writes : 



"Sometime since, Professor F. S. Holmes, of Charleston, submitted for my 

 examination, a collection of fossil bones from a post-pliocene deposit on 

 Ashley River, S. Carolina. Among remains of the extinct horse, the peccary, 

 mylodon, megatherium, mastodon, hipparion, the tapir, the capybara, the 

 beaver, the musk-rat, etc., were some which I considered as belonging to the 

 dog, the domestic ox, the sheep and the hog. Prof. Holmes observes that these 

 remains were taken from an extensive deposit, in which similar ones exist 

 abundantly, and he further adds, that he cannot conceive that the latter should 

 have become mingled with the former, since the introduction of domestic ani- 

 mals into America by Europeans. It is not improbable that the American con- 

 tinent once had, as part of its fauna, representatives of our domestic animals, 

 which subsequently became extinct though I am inclined to doubt it; but 

 what we have learned of the extinct American horse, will lead me carefully to 

 investigate the subject." 



The opportunity for prosecuting this investigation, to some extent, I had the 

 pleasure of affording Professor Leidy, in March last, a month after the date of 

 the above letter. Dr. Hallowell and himself visited me in Charleston, and I 

 accompanied them to Ashley ferry and Goose creek. The annexed extracts are 

 from a paper of Professor Leidy's on this topic, written after his return home 

 to Philadelphia, and he has also kindly sent me a number of very valuable 

 drawings of fossil horse teeth, and other remains obtained from the Carolina 

 beds f 



" The interesting collection of remains of vetebrated animals, which form 

 the subject of the following pages, for the most part have been submitted to 

 the inspection of the author, by Prof. Holmes and Capt. A. H. Bowman, U. S. A., 

 who collected them from the eocene, post-pliocene, and recent geological for- 

 mations, in the vicinity of Charleston, South Carolina. 



"The collections of these gentlemen consist of a most remarkable intermix- 

 ture of remains of fishes, reptiles and mammals, of the three periods mentioned ; 

 and in many cases perhaps we may err in referring a particular species to a 

 certain formation, more especially in the case of the fishes. The remains 

 usually consist of teeth often well preserved, but frequently in small fragments, 

 more or less water-worn, and most of the fossils are stained brown or black. 



" By far the greater portion of the fossil remains are obtained from the post- 

 pliocene deposit of the Ashley River, about ten miles from Charleston. The 

 country in this locality is composed of a base of whitish eocene marl, contain- 

 ing remains of squalodon sharks and rays above which is a stratum of post- 

 pliocene mud, abont one foot in thickness, overlaid by about three feet of sand 

 and earth mould. 



" The post-pliocene mud contains great quantities of irregular, water-worn 

 fragments of the eocene marl rock from beneath, mingled with sand, blackened 

 pebbles, water rolled fragments of bones, and more perfect remains of fishes, 

 reptiles and mammals, belonging to the post-pliocene and eocene fossils. 



"On the shores of the Ashley River, where the post-pliocene and eocene 

 formations are exposed, the fossils are washed from their beds, and become 

 mingled with the remains of recent indigenous and domestic animals, and ob- 

 jects of human art, so that when a collection is made in this locality, it is some- 

 times difficult to determine whether the animal remains belong to the forma- 



* Indigenous Races of the Earih; p. xix. 



t Lithographs of these figures will appear in the volume, with Prof, L.'s paper. 



[July, 



