1897.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 207 



1. Didelphis marsupialis virginiana (Kerr). Virginia OpoH?um. 

 Numerous in the southern valleys, rare on the higher mountains, 



and not found within the denser evergreen forests of the northern 

 counties. As these are cut off the opossum extends its wanderings 

 into the clearings of mountains where it had hitherto been a stranger. 

 " Tii Clinton County very rare, one killed in 1895 " — Nelson. " Rare, 

 last winter two taken at Emporium" — Larrabee. "Coming in 

 rarely around Eaglesmere in the last six years " — Bennett. " Well 

 distributed throughout the southern Alleghenies " — Ingersoll. 



2. Bison bison (L.). Arnericsin Bison. 



The former range of the bison eastward along the West-branch of 

 the Susquehanna to the forks of the river below Lewisburg during 

 the present century is conceded by Dr. J. A. Allen. 1 The last buffalo 

 killed in central Pennsylvania was shot about the year 1800, by Col. 

 John Kelly, in Kelly Township, Union Co., five miles from Lewis- 

 burg. The former presence of the bison in the western part of 

 Bedford County is attested by the names given to Buffalo Mountain, 

 Buffalo Creek and Buffalo Mills in that County. This forms a con- 

 necting link between the numerous herds of buffaloes formerly rang- 

 ing over the Ohio River drainage in western Pennsylvania and the 

 sparsely scattered bands which may have passed over the watershed 

 into the Juniata valley at this point. The presence of sulphur 

 springs in this vicinity with the associated open glade country is well 

 known to be a favorite place of summer resort for this species, and 

 it is significant that a tributary of the Juniata in Perry County is 

 called Buffalo Creek. For further information regarding the east- 

 ward range of the buffalo in pre-Columbian times to the Delaware 

 valley the reader should cousult the author's paper in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1895, 

 pages 244 to 248. 



3. Cervus canadensis (Erxl.). Wapiti, American "Elk." 



The former range of this animal in Pennsylvania was closely co- 

 extensive with that of the Bison, both species using the same trails, 

 feeding grounds and licks among the western Alleghenies and pass- 

 ing thence eastward by the same routes to the Delaware valley. The 

 elk was most numerous among the elevated mountain glades and 

 eastern tributaries of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. It 

 was also fairly abundant in the early part of the century in Clinton, 



1 Monog. Amer. Bisons. — Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., 1S76. 



