478 THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



opinions of Putnam and Merriam on this point will be cited on a later page. 

 Of the twenty species of mammals determined here, about one quarter, or 25 

 per cent, are extinct. Of the characteristic animals of the mid-Pleistocene, 

 or Megalonyx Zone, there still remain Megalonyx, the Columbian mammoth, 

 and the western horse, which appear to be in this locality the last survivors 

 of this great mid-Pleistocene fauna. No mylodonts, mastodons, or camels 

 occur. The American black bear {U. americanus) is found here, but the 

 giant South American bear (Arctotherium) is not recorded. Of the new- 

 comers the sheep-like ungulate (Euceratherium) , with affinities to the musk 

 ox, again occurs, as well as a related form (Preptoceras) . The remainder of 

 the fauna is the modern characteristic mountain fauna of North America, 

 similar to that described above at Potter Creek, and very similar to that 

 of the present day with the exception of the fact that the wapiti, or European 

 deer (Cervus), is still absent. 



Big Bone Lick, Kentucky. (Fig. 1 94, 8) . — One of the most famous 

 of these deposits is that known as the Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, discovered in 

 1830, twenty miles southwest of Cincinnati, where remains of enormous herds 

 of mastodons and Columbian mammoths are mingled with more sparse 

 remains of other members of the IMegalonyx fauna. From the very early 

 account of Cooper ^ we take these notes. The relative frequency is a point 

 of especial interest, as shown in the following table: 



Mastodon americanus 100 individuals 



Elephas columbi 20 individuals 



Bison antiquus ^ 2 individuals 



Bison latifrons ^ 1 individual 



Odocoileus virginianus 2 individuals 



Cervus canadensis (?)individuals 



Alces americanus (?) individuals 



{?)RangiJer 



Ovibos 



{f)Equus 



Megalonyx jeffersoni 



A feature of great interest is the occurrence here of Ovihos and Rangifer, 

 two members of the third Pleistocene fauna. In fact, the presence of the 

 true deer (Cervus), the musk ox (Ovibos), and the reindeer (Rangifer), if 

 properly determined, is an indication either of the approach of the fauna of 

 the third life zone, or that these Big Bone Lick deposits bridged over the 

 periods of the second and third zones. 



1 Cooper, W., Smith, J. A., and De Kay, J. E., Report to the Lyceum of Natural History 

 on a collection of fossil bones disinterred at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, in September, 1830, and 

 recently brought to New York. Amer. Jour. Set., Vol. XX, 1831, pp. 370-372; also. Cooper, W., 

 Notices of Big Bone Lick. Monthly Amer. Jour. Geol. Nat. Sci., I, 1831, pp. 158-174; 205-217. 



2 Authority, F. A. Lucas, The Fossil Bison of North America. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 

 Vol. XXI, no. 1172, 1899, pp. 755-771, Pll. Ixv-lxxxiv. 



