jQO POST-PLEIOCENE FOSSILS. 



Both the collections submitted to the author by Prof. Holmes and Capt. Bowman, 

 contain remains of the horse, ox, sheep, hog, and dog, which, we feel strongly persuaded, 

 with the exception of many of those of the first mentioned genus, are of recent date, and 

 have become intermingled with the true fossils of the Post-Pleiocene and Eocene periods 

 on the Ashley river and its tributaries. In regard to the remains of the horse, from the 

 facts related in the succeeding pages, we think it must be conceded that several species of 

 this animal inhabited the country of the United States, during the Post-Pleiocene period, 

 contemporaneously with the mastodon, the giant sloth, and the great, broad-fronted bison. 



Class, MAMMALIA. Order, SOLIPEDIA. 

 Genus, EQUUS.— Linn. 



EQUUS FRATERNUS. EQUUS COMPLICATUS. 



Plates XV, XVI. Figs. 2-3L 



Equus major, DeKay, Zoology of New-York, pt. 1, Mammalia, 108. 



Equus Americanus, Leidij, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Ill, 262. 



Equus fraternus et E. complicatus, Leidy, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1858, 11. 



It appears to be quite well authenticated that the Horse, now so extensively distributed, 

 both in a wild and domestic condition, throughout North and South America, did not 

 inhabit these continents at the time of their discovery by Europeans. Coupling this fact 

 with the circumstance, that in many instances fossils may become accidental occupants of 

 earlier geological foraaations than those to which they actually belong, we should require 

 strono- evidence before it is admitted that species of the Horse belonged to the ancient fauna 

 of the western world. At the present time such evidence is not only ample for the pur- 

 pose, but actually indicates that more equine animals formerly lived in North America than 

 in any other portion of the earth, so far as is known. 



Remains of the Horse, discovered in Brazil, Buenos Ayres, and Chili, have been indi- 

 cated by Dr. Lund,* Prof. Owen,f M. Weddell,J and M. Gervais.§ These remains 

 exhibit no well marked characters distinguishing them from corresponding portions of the 

 skeleton of the domestic Horse, and it is uncertain whether they are referrable to one or 

 more species. 



*Ann. Sc. Nat., 2d s., XII, 319. Equus neogae.us; E. principalis. 



t Voyage Beagle; Fossil Mammalia, 108; Catalogue Foss. Mus. Roy. Col. Surg., 236. E. curvidens. 



J Voyage Bolivia, 204. E. viacrognathit«. 



§ Hist. Chili; Zool. I, 146; Rech. Mam. Foss., 33, 35. E. Americanus; E. DevUlei. 



