IV 



POST-PLEIOCENE FOSSILS. 



northern coast of the Gulf is found fossil at a depth of eighteen or twenty feet under the 

 city of Charleston, and in such numbers that cart-loads may be obtained from a single 

 locality. 



Again, we find two more species that are now extinct, or rather unknown to me in a 

 recent state, one of which I have lately figured and described as CavoUna Tumneyi, after 

 my late friend and colleague Prof Tuomey; the other is Telkdora lunulata, Adams, a shell 

 described as recent, from Carolina, but in fact a fossil in the Post-Pleiocene and extinct. 



Now let us compare the remains of the vertebrata with a similar group of living animals. 

 Among the former we find teeth of the deer, raccoon, opossum and others well known to 

 be living at the present time in South Carolina ; but like the invertebrated we find two or 

 three species which are no longer existing north of Mexico and South America — the pecca- 

 ry, the capyhara and the tapir. Again, there aie remains of the musk-rat and beaver, but 

 these two animals are extinct in the low country of South Carolina ; the beaver has indeed 

 almost been extirpated to the east of the Mississippi river, and the musk-rat is confined to 

 a region above the falls of the rivers of this State. 



The mastodon, the megatherium, the mylodon and perhaps one or two others are ex- 

 tinct. 



That we may the better appreciate the interesting analogy existing between these two 

 groups as regards the living and extinct species, we wall place them in a tabular form, 

 thus : 



Among the fossils collected in South Carolina from beds of this age — Post-Pletocene 

 — some of which are exposed at Ashley Ferry, Goose Creek, Stono, John's Island, and 

 other localities, a number have been found apparently belonging to animals having specific 

 characters in common with recent or living species not considered indigenous to this coun- 

 try, such as the horse, hog, sheep, ox, etc. 



A large collection of fossils from this interesting formation were submitted by me about 

 three years ago, to Professor Leidy, of Philadelphia; the eminent palaeontologist, for deter- 



* Strombus pugilis and Gnathodon cuneatum. 



f Mya arenaria, Pandora trilineata. 



J Cavolina Tuomeyi and Tellcdora lunulata. 



§ Tapir, Peccary and Capybara. 



II Elk, Beaver, Musk-rat. 



^ Mastodon, Elephant, Megatherium, Mylodon, Castoroides. 



