April 12, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



371 



consin; nor that the Talbot represents about 

 the same period of time. Both of those for- 

 mations are singularly destitute of vertebrate 

 fossils. On the other hand, the lowest terrace 

 in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas is filled 

 ■with remains of extinct vertebrates down to 

 salt water. At Wilmington, N. C, the great 

 sloth Megatherium and horses are found. The 

 latter occur all along the coast of North Car- 

 olina, along the Potomac, and on the west 

 shore of Chesapeake bay. The line of horse- 

 bearing localities is then taken up at Swedes- 

 boro, N. J., is continued past Philadelphia, 

 and ends at the Navesink Hills. I'rom the 

 Potomac to Raritan bay it keeps far away 

 from the Atlantic coast. In the Fish House 

 clays, opposite Philadelphia, considerable horse 

 remains have been found. By the New Jer- 

 sey geologist these clays are regarded as be- 

 longing to the Pensauken formation; and this 

 is referred to the early Pleistocene. The ver- 

 tebrate fossils appear, therefore, to connect 

 the lowest terrace of the south Atlantic- states 

 with the Pensauken, rather than with the 

 Wisconsin. Berry's admission that the Vero 

 deposits may be as old as the Peorian shows 

 that he does not believe that any connection 

 with the Wisconsin drift has been established. 



The writer contends likewise that the Pensa- 

 cola terrace has not yet been geologically cor- 

 related in the Mississippi Valley with any 

 definite glacial stage. 



Inasmuch as Berry grants that the Pensa- 

 cola terrace may be as old as the Peorian inter- 

 glacial stage he and I need have no quarrel 

 about the age of the Vero muck bed. He may 

 perhaps yet come to acknowledge that it may 

 be as old as the Sangamon. 



As regards Dr. Chamberlin's paper it may 

 be stated that he has decided to abandon his 

 theory of the secondary inclusion of the verte- 

 brate fossils — " unless all other explanations 

 fail." He asserts (p. 6C7) that the dates of 

 the appearance of man and of the disappear- 

 ance of the extinct animals were among the 

 very points brought into question and could 

 not themselves be used as decisive criteria. 

 With that part of this statement which con- 

 cerns man I agree; but with that which re- 



gards the vertebrates I dissent The time 

 when those vertebrates lived and when they 

 disappeared is to be determined by their re- 

 lation to the deposits in which they have been 

 found in a thousand or more other places in 

 our country; and it is legitimate to apply the 

 knowledge gained therefrom to the situation 

 at Vero. Chamberlin seems to respect rather 

 lightly the vertebrate fossils, for he believes 

 that the time relations of the deposits were 

 quite well indicated by the physical criteria, 

 irrespective of their fossil contents. He be- 

 lieves, with Berry, that the marine marl bed 

 and with it the Pensacola terrace is late Pleis- 

 tocene in age. The ^vriter takes this occasion 

 to say that if the geologists can prove that 

 proposition it will at once end the dispute 

 about the time of the disappearance of the 

 fauna represented at Vero; and vertebrate 

 paleontology will become once more indebted 

 to geology. Pending that proof I shall main- 

 tain, on the evidence of the vertebrate fossils, 

 that that terrace belongs to the early third of 

 the Pleistocene. 



Dr. Chamberlin's faith in the value of 

 fossils seems to be somewhat livelier when, in 

 order to determine the age of the human relics 

 at Vero, he cites the age of European pottery 

 and men's bones ; but what connection has been 

 established between the use of pottery in Eu- 

 rope and its use in America ? 



It is not a little amusing to observe that the 

 camels and horses and their fellows, which 

 under the designation of a " Pliocene fauna " 

 were used at Table Mountain to combat the 

 existence of early man, are now, at the other, 

 far distant, end of the line, mustered in as a 

 " mid-Recent fauna " and called into service 

 to continue the same war. 



Oliver P. Hay 



C.uiNEOiE Institution op Washinoton 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



THE ANIMAL CENSUS OF TWO CITY LOTS 



Aside from articles by McAtee, Banks and 

 Herbert Osbom,'' very little attention has 



1 McAtee, W. L., ' ' Census of four square feet, ' ' 

 Science, Vol. 26, pp. 447-49, 1907; Banks, N., 

 "A 'census of four square feet,' " Science, Vol. 



