22 Ci>iciiinati Society of Natiwal Hislory. 



During the excavation of the Brunswick Canal, near Darien, 

 Ga. , fossil remains of extinct mammals were found in considerable 

 abundance. 'I'hese specimens were sent to the Academy of Natu- 

 ral Science, Philadelphia, and announced at the meeting of July 

 12, 1842. 



In a communication concerning them, Mr. Couper made the 

 following statements : 



I'hey were found in the bed of the canal, at six different 

 jjoints, at the bottom of the alluvial deposit, imbedded in it, and 

 resting on the stratum of sand below. Marine shells were found 

 in a stratum of coarse sand, lying a few feet below the strata men- 

 tioned above, indicating that the country here had once been cov- 

 ered by the sea, and was raised by a subsequent upheaval. 



"rhe remains of mammals occured generally in groups, and all 

 were found at the same depth imbedded in the same stratum. The 

 bones of the Megatherium and Mammoth were found to be most 

 abundant. This fact is taken as evidence of the co-existence of 

 the Megatherium, Mastodon, Mammoth, Hippopotamus, Horse, 

 Ox and Hog, at a period succeeding the elevation from the ocean 

 of the newer Pliocine, and the co existance of these mammals was 

 believed to have been proved at this place for the first time.* 



Among these specimens was a fossil bone which Dr. Harlan 

 afterwards described as belonging to a new species which he called 

 Sus americana. To this specimen Owen afterwards gave the gen- 

 eric name Harlanus, believing it to be a tapiroid pachyderm. 



At a meeting of the Academy, June 6, 1854, Leidy stated with 

 regard to the above that Sus Amciicaiiiis, Harlan and Harlanus, 

 Owen, was j^robably a true ruminant, and identified it with Bison 

 laiifrons. The fragment in question was that of a lower jaw, and 

 the conclusions of Leidy were based on the form of the fragment 

 and the characteristics of the molars. 



Remains of fossil species of ox which have been identified 

 with Bison latifrons, have been described at various times and 

 under the following names: Great Indian Buffalo, Peale; AurocJis, 

 Cuvier; Bos latifrons, Harlan; Urus, Bojanus; Great Fossil Ox, sp. 

 Catifrons, Godman ; Bos urus, Buckland; Taurus latifrons, Taurus, 

 Rafinesque ; Bison prisons. Bos prisons, Meyer; Bos, Bison or Ox, 

 Harlan; Fossil Ox, Perkins; Sus americana, Harlan ; Sus ameri- 

 caniis, Pictet; Lophidore bathygnathus, Harlanus a/nericanus, Owen; 

 Bison latifrons, Leidy ; Bison antiquus, Leidy ; Bison crassicorns, 

 Richardson ; Harlanus, Brown. 



*Proc. Aciid. Nat. Sci. 1842, 190, 216. 



