In a letter to Dr. Nott and Mr. Gliddon,* dated 

 Feb. 10, 1857, Prof. L. writes: 



" Sometime since, Professor F. S. Holmes, of Charleston, sub- 

 mitted for my examination, a collection of fossil bones from a 

 post-pleiocene deposit on Ashley River, S. C. Among: remains 

 of the extinct horse, the peccary, mylodon, megatherium, masto- 

 don, hipparion, the tapir, the capabara, the beaver, the musk-rat, 

 etc., were some which I considered as belonging to the dog, the 

 domestic ox, the sheep and the hog. Prof. Holmes observes 

 that these remains were taken from an extensive deposit, in 

 which similar ones exist abundantly, and he further adds, that 

 he cannot conceive that the latter should have become mingled 

 with the former, since the introduction of domestic animals into 

 America by Europeans. It is not improbable that the American 

 continent once had, as part of its fauna, representatives of our 

 domestic animals, which subsequently became extinct — though I 

 am inclined to doubt it; but what we have learned of the extinct 

 American horse, will lead me carefully to investigate the sub- 

 ject." 



The opportunity for prosecuting this investigation, 

 to some extent, I had the pleasure of affording Pro- 

 fessor Leidy, in March last, a month after the date 

 of the above letter. Dr. Hallowell and himself 

 visited me in Charleston, and I accompanied them 

 to Ashley ferry and Goose creek. The annexed ex- 

 tracts are from a paper of Professor Leidy's on this 

 topic, written after his return home to Philadelphia, 

 and he has also kindly sent me a number of very val- 

 uable drawings of fossil horse teeth, and other re- 

 mains obtained from the Carolina beds.f 



" The interesting collection of remains of vertebrated animals, 

 which form the subject of the following pages, for the most part 

 have been submitted to the inspection of the author, by Prof. 

 Holmes and Capt. A. II. Bowman, U. S, A., who collected them 

 from the eocene, post-pleiocene, and recent geological formations, 

 in the vicinity of Charleston, South-Carolina. 



" The collections of these gentlemen consist of a most remark- 

 able intermixture of remains of fishes, reptiles and mammals, of 

 the three periods mentioned; and in many cases perhaps we may 

 err in referring a particular species to a certain formation, more 

 especially in the case of the fishes. The remains usually consist 

 of teeth often well preserved, but frequently in small fragments, 

 more or less water-worn, and most of the fossils are stained 

 brown or bl >ck. 



* Indigenous races of the earth; p. xix. 



f Lithographs of these figures will appear in the volume, with Prof. L.'s paper. 



