318 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



of the Post-Plcioccne (Tertiary) Age, a number have been found apparently 

 belonging to animals having specific characters in common with recent, or 

 living species not considered indigenous to this country, such as the horse, 

 hog, sheep, ox, etc. These remains, although apparently belonging to recent 

 species, Prof. Holmes believes to be true fossil remains, inasmuch as they 

 were obtained not only from the banks and deltas of rivers, but also in large 

 number from excavations several feet below the surface, and at a distance 

 from any stream, creek, pond, bog or ravine ; and in some cases from exca- 

 vations below the high sandy land of cotton-fields. 



Prof. Lcidy, of Philadelphia, who has examined the collections made by 

 Prof. Holmes, and others, from the recent geological formations in South 

 Carolina, and also the localities from whence the most interesting specimens 

 were obtained, writes as follows : " The collections consist of a most remark- 

 able intermixture of remains of fishes, reptiles and mammals, from the 

 eocene, and post-pleiocene formations, and consist usually of teeth, often well 

 preserved, but frequently in small fragments, more or less water-worn. Most 

 of the fossils are stained brown or black. By far the greater portion of these 

 are obtained from the post-pleiocene deposit of the Ashley river, about ten 

 miles from Charleston. The country in this locality is composed of a base 

 of whitish eocene marl, containing remains of squalodon sharks, and rays 

 above which is a stratum of post-pleiocene marl, about one foot in thickness, 

 overlaid by about three feet of sand and earth mould. 



" The post-pleiocene marl contains great quantities of irregular, water-worn 

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

 ened pebbles, water-rolled fragments of bones, and more perfect remains of 

 fishes, reptiles, and mammals, belonging to the post-pleiocene and eocene 

 fossils. 



" On the shores of the Ashley river, where the post-pleiocene 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 

 objects of human art; so that when a collection is made in this locality, it is 

 sometimes difficult to determine whether the animal remains belong to the 

 formations mentioned or not. Generally, however, we have been able to as- 

 certain where the fossils belong, which we have had the opportunity of exam- 

 ining, from the fact that the greater number were obtained from the deposits 

 referred to in digging into them some distance from the Ashley river. 



" The collections contain remains of the horse, ox, sheep, hog, and dog, 

 which, I feel strongly persuaded, with the exception of many of those of the 

 first-mentioned animal, are of recent date, and have become mingled with 

 the true fossils of the post-pleiocene and eocene formations, where they have 

 been exposed on the banks of the Ashley river and its tributaries. In regard 

 to the remains of the horse, from the facts stated in the account given of 

 them in the succeeding pages, I think it will be conceded that this animal in- 

 habited the United States during the post-pleiocene period, temporarily with 

 the mastodon, meyalonyx, and the great broad-fronted bison. 



" Many of the mammalian remains are of recent animals, or, at least, are 

 undistinguishable from the corresponding parts of the latter; and if they are 

 not accidental occupants of the post-pleiocene deposit, are highly interesting, 

 as indicating their contemporaneous existence with many species and genera 

 now extinct.* 



* Remains of the tapir, peccary, and capybara, present a similar association of 

 life to that now confined to South America. 



