398 NORTH AMERICAN STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



isteuce in a contemporary era Tvitli tliose of tlieold continent, and nnder 

 similar circumstances. But their period of duration in the new world 

 may have been prolonged to dates of a subsequent time, since the Pachy- 

 derms of the United States, as well as those of the Pampas of Brazil, 

 are much more perfect : and, in many cases, possess characters ascribed 

 to bones in a recent state. Alligators and crocodiles, moreover, con- 

 tinue to exist in latitudes where they endure a winter state of torpidity 

 beneath ice, as an evidence that the great Saurians in that region have 

 not yet entirely worked out their mission; whereas, on the old conti- 

 nent they had ceased to exist in high latitudes long before the extinc- 

 tion of the great Ungulata.'"* 



Flint implements of the European " drift type," however, are by no 

 means scarce in North America, although they cannot (thus far) be 

 referred to any particular period, but must be classed with the other 

 chii)ped and ground implements in use among the iSTorth American abo- 

 rigines during historical times. 



In the first place I will mention certain leaf-shaped flint implements 

 which have been found in mounds and on the surface, as well as in de- 

 posits below it. They are comparatively thin, of regular outline, and 

 exhibit well-chipped edges all around the circumferences. On the whole, 

 they are among the best North American flint articles which have 

 fallen under my notice. The specimens found by Messrs. Squier and 

 Davis in a mound of the inclosure called Mound City, on the Scioto 

 River, some miles north of Chillicothe, Ohio, belong to this class. Most 

 of them were broken, but a few were found entire, one of which is repre- 

 sented in half size by Fig. 100 on page 211 of the "Ancient Monuments 

 of the INIississippi Valley." This specimen measures four inches in 

 length and about three inches across the broad rounded end. I have a 

 still larger one, consisting of a reddish mottled flint, which was found 

 on the surface in Jeflerson County, Missouri. The annexed full-size 

 drawing. Fig. 2, shows its outline. The edge on the right side is a little 

 damaged by subsequent fractures, but for the sake of greater distinct- 

 ness I have represented it as perfect. The finest leaf shaped imple- 

 ments which I have had occasion to examine, are in the possession of 

 Mr. M. Cowing, of Seneca Falls, New York. The owner told me he had 

 more than a hundred of them, which were all derived from a locality in 

 the State of New York, where they were accidentally discovered, form- 

 ing a deposit under the surface. Mr. Cowing, who is constantly engaged 

 in collecting and buying up Indian relics, refused to give me any in- 

 formation concerning the place and precise character of the deposit, 

 basing his refusal on the ground that a few of these implements were 

 still in the hands of individuals in the neighborhood, and that he would 

 reveal nothing in relation to the deposit until he had obtained every 

 specimen originally belonging to it. I am, therefore, unable to give any 



''The Natural History of the Human Species, London, 1852, p. 89. The comparative 

 freshness of the boues»of extinct Nurth American animals was noticed by Cuvier. 



