INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, PHILADELPHIA. 55 



in the Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society for the years 

 1884-85 (Raleigh, N. C), pp. 86-90. In this paper the author describes 

 the limestones of Tampa Bay, and sundry outcrops of rock on Six Mile 

 Creek, Alefia River (Bloomingdale), Manatee River (Rocky Bluff), and 

 Peace Creek (Fort Meade), which are all referred to the Upper Eocene 

 period. The general conclusions are thus stated : " The limestone rock 

 underlying the region of country about Tampa belongs to the upper 

 Eocene, as already pointed out by Conrad and Tuomey. And as a 

 gentleman of intelligence who visited Fort Myers, informed the writer 

 that the rock at that place was both in appearance and in fossils, similar 

 to that about Tampa, the Eocene limestone rock almost certainly extends 

 at least as far south as that point." It will thus be seen that the conclu- 

 sions reached by this observer are absolutely at variance with the facts 

 which our investigations have brought out; and it is not a little surpris- 

 ing that Prof. Kerr should have failed to recognize the post-Eocene age 

 of the Rocky Bluff limestone, when the Miocene character of the fossils 

 occurring at that locality is so clearly marked. 



One of the most interesting contributions to the history of the extinct 

 fauna of the State that had been made up to this time was the discovery 

 by Dr. J. C. Neal, near Archer, Alachua Co., of an extensive series of 

 mammalian remains, referable probably to several distinct geological 

 periods, from among which Dr. Leidy has identified the parts belonging 

 to one or more species of mastodon, rhinoceros, tapir, horse (Hippothe- 

 rinin ingcnuuiii}, llama, camel, and hog. One of the forms of mastodon 

 appears to be distinct from any of the other species inhabiting the United 

 States, and has been named Mastodon Floridauus. The hog is considered 

 to represent the type of a distinct genus, Ensyodon, considerably removed 

 from the peccary-forms, Dicotyles, Platygonus, which hitherto alone 

 represented the Suidae in the Tertiary and Post-Tertiary deposits of the 

 North American continent. 



The above sketch represents in brief the condition of our geological 

 knowledge of the State up to 1886. It recognizes the existence of Ter- 

 tiary (Oligocene and Miocene) deposits in the upper half of the State, or 

 north of a line connecting Tampa Bay on the west with Sanford, on the 

 Atlantic slope, on the east, but leaves, as has already been intimated, 

 everything conjectural south of that line. From the broad extent of the 

 Oligocene rocks in the north Dr. Smith was led to infer that in all proba- 

 bility the greater part of the peninsula, at least as far as the Caloosa- 

 hatchie and Lake Okeechobee, was underlaid by the same formation, the 

 hypothetical extension of which is indicated on the map accompanying 

 his report in the American Journal of Science above mentioned. The 

 conclusion reached here was a natural one, and is that which guided me 

 in the delineation of the geological boundaries on the general map of 



