66 



Mytilus hamatus and Area ponderosa. The other one of the 

 three, Rangia cuneata, is the only form present that would indi- 

 cate a higher temperature than at present prevails ; but the 

 abundance of this, as has already been pointed out, gives Con- 

 rad's statement considerable force, though it is hardly probable that 

 the climate of Maryland in Pleistocene times was anything near so 

 warm as is that of Florida today. Another fact that adds some 

 weight to the view here expressed in regard to the Cornfield Harbor 

 deposit is that, in addition to Rangia cuneata, there are two other 

 forms whose northern range limit falls short of reaching the Corn- 

 field Harbor latitude, stopping at or below Cape Hatteras. "In 1852 

 Desor reviewed the paleontology of the formation [Pleistocene] as 

 developed from South Carolina to Sankoty Head and Point Shirley, 

 noted that the fossils are 'nearly all referable to living species,' and 

 that the deposit occupies only a very narrow zone, and inferred not 

 only that it is marine but that the climate was warmer than now 

 when it was deposited" (McGee). "Verrill more recently enumer- 

 ated about sixty species from the deposits of Sankoty Head, of 

 which those from the lower strata indicate warmer and those from 

 the upper strata colder climate than the present" (McGee). Enough 

 views have been quoted to show that there are various and con- 

 flicting opinions as to the climate prevailing in Pleistocene times. 

 Almost all the more recent views embody the general assertion that 

 the Pleistocene was a period of much lower temperature than the 

 Pliocene and slightly lower than the present. However unwilling 

 an inexperienced worker may be for the view he reaches to be op- 

 posed to that held by experienced workers in any particular field, 

 the facts gained from the study of the tables just completed compel 

 the writer to say that the weight of evidence seems to justify the 

 opinion that, if the Pleistocene sea temperature differed at all from 

 that of the present, it was slightly higher rather than slightly lower 

 than that of the present. This would seem true in South Carolina, 

 whatever it may have been elsewhere. Now, as has already been inti- 

 mated, it may be that the results of more thorough study of the 

 fauna of the Atlantic coast and more abundant dredging may 

 change the conclusions here reached, but until such data have been 

 acquired — if they ever are — the conclusions above stated would seem 

 to be the ones best warranted by the data at present available. 



