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1615 



TERTIARY FAUNA OF FLORIDA J 



PLEISTOCENE OF NORTH CREEK. 



Near the settlement of Osprey, on Little Sarasota Bay, Manatee County, 

 on the west coast of Florida, a small stream called North Creek empties into 

 the bay, its banks raised only a few feet above the level of high tide. Here 

 Mr. Willcox discovered a Post-Pliocene deposit from which he, and later the 

 writer also, collected quite a number of species. But little time was spent upon 

 this stratum, and doubtless a good many more species might have been found 

 with more extended search. As an example of what the Pleistocene beds of 

 the peninsula contain, however, even this incomplete series has a certain in- 

 terest, and it was thought well to include a list of the shells. 



The stratum is nearly horizontal and appeared to be less than three feet in 

 thickness. It was chiefly composed of sand darkened by decayed vegetable 

 matter, and the action of the stream had mixed with the material fallen from 

 the low bank bits of pottery from a prehistoric kitchen-midden at no great 

 distance. The house of Judge Webb, at Osprey, is situated on an artificial 

 Indian mound which forms the highest land in the vicinity and is of prehistoric 

 origin. Not far from this locality human remains completely replaced by 

 limonite, in the state of perfect pseudomorphs of the calvarium and other bones 

 of the skeleton, were found by Judge Webb in a stratum of sandstone, where 

 they were uncovered in digging a ditch. Later other specimens of the same 

 character were discovered by Mr. Willcox and Professor Heilprin, and all are 

 described in these Transactions, Volume II., pp. 9-12, in 1889, by the late Dr. 

 Joseph Leidy. They are probably of Pleistocene age. 



LIST OF SPECIES COLLECTED AT NORTH CREEK. 



The larger and more common species were identified by Mr. C. W. Johnson, of the 

 Wagner Institute, the others by the writer. All the species are found at the present 

 time living on the coast, except a few which are indicated by prefixing an asterisk to 

 their names. 



Bulla striata Bruguiere. Marginella apicina Menke. 



Tornatina canaliculata Say. Marginella minuta Pfeiffer. 



Terebra (Oxymeris) concava Say. Fasciolaria gigantea Kiener. 



Terebra (Oxymeris) protexta Conrad. Fasciolaria distans Lamarck. 



Terebra (Oxymeris) dislocata Say. Fasciolaria tulipa Linne. 



Conus pygmseus Reeve. Melongena corona Gmelin. 



Mangilia plicosa Adams. Busycon perversum Linne. 



Mangilia cerinella Dall. Busycon pyrum Dillwyn. 



Olivella mutica Say. Tritonidea tincta Conrad. 



