l6 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



In my exploration by automobile, of many miles of the surrounding 

 country. I found abundant evidence that there are many isolated areas, 

 usually of limited extent, of fossil-bearing Pleistocene deposits in that 

 general region. These seem to be remnants of ancient stream channels 

 which once occupied the high plains country before the present valleys 

 were formed and the present drainage systems established. While 

 none of the exposures examined yielded much of value they gave 

 ])romise of good returns had time and funds permitted a much more 

 extended exploration. 



Leaving western Oklahoma April ii, I arrived in Sarasota, Florida, 

 on the morning of April 13. Here I was met by Mr. J. E. Moore, the 



Fig. 17. — Drain ditch in north city limits of Sarasota, Florida. Mr. Moore, 

 of Sarasota, is pointing to spot in the bottom of the ditch where several 

 fossil-horse teeth were recovered. 



discoverer of the fossil bones in the vicinity of Sarasota, and received 

 from him the same cordial and helpful assistance I had had from 

 Mr. Baxter in Oklahoma. Things looked promising here also, but, 

 as in Oklahoma, I was destined to be again disappointed in my search 

 for the " big prize," namely, a mountable skeleton of the mammoth. 

 Also, as in Oklahoma, the visit to this locality was not unproductive, 

 as, in the few days of my stay in Florida, from the several localities 

 we visited in this vicinity and in the neighborhood of Zolfo Springs, 

 about 60 miles east of Sarasota, I recovered a respectable little col- 

 lection of fossil bones and teeth, including remains of the mammoth, 

 mastodon, extinct horse, bison, camel, tapir and other smaller kinds 

 of prehistoric mammals, all from Pleistocene deposits. 



