







;-"-'■— 





246 



THE AURIFEROUS GRAVELS OF THE SIERRA NEVADA. 



which have been found, or which have come into the writer's possession with 

 the statements of others as to their being found, in the various detrital de- 

 posits in and adjacent to the mining region of the Sierra. The names of the 

 species will be given in each case ; then such remarks as have been furnished 

 to the w T riter by Dr. Leidy, in the form of notes on the specimens submitted 

 to him at various times during the progress of the Geological Survey. Some 

 additional information obtained from other sources will occasionally be added ; 

 and, especially, such as maybe found in the " Extinct Mammalia of North 

 America " and in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia and California Acade- 

 mies. The order followed will be that of the first-mentioned work of Dr. 

 Leidy. Under each species indicated will be given such facts as have been 

 obtained with regard to its locality and strati graphical position. And, after 

 all have been mentioned, the various occurrences will be classified, as far as 

 possible, and the attempt made to ascertain what geological age should be 

 assigned to the beds in which these remains occur. 



o 



Of the Camivora, none of the Fclidce, so far as known to the writer, have 

 been met with in the Sierra Nevada, but the remains of one species at least 

 have been observed in the Coast Ranges. They were discovered by Dr. L. G. 

 Yates, at a locality near Livermore Valley. The specimens consist of frag- 

 ments of the jaw, and have been described by Leidy under the name of Felts 



tmpcr 



talis. 



: Of the Canidce, a portion of the lower jaw of a wolf was obtained 

 from the locality last mentioned, and considered by Leidy to be probably 

 identical with 0. Indiancnsis^ a fossil species described as occurring with 

 Mcgalomjx on the banks of the Ohio River; although possibly not different 

 from the existing C. occidenialis . A tibia obtained by the Geological Survey, 

 probably from Murphy's and certainly from the auriferous gravel, in a per- 

 / feet condition and somewhat fossilized, was referred by Leidy to 0. Zatrans, as 

 beinff of about the size and form of the corresponding bone in the prairie 



wolf, t 



The remains of the Bovidm are of somewhat frequent occurrence in the 



detrital deposits of the mining region, and they have also been found in the 

 Coast Ranges. Dr. Leidy says : § " Remains of large oxen which were con- 

 temporaneous with the American mastodon have been discovered in several 



* Contributions to the Extinct Vertebrate Fauna of the Western Territories, p. 228. 



t 1. c, p. 230. 



% Dr. Leidy considers the formation in which these fossils (the tiger and wolf) were found to be " qua- 

 ternary." There is abundant reason for classing them as Pliocene. 



§ Contributions, &c, \). 253. 



