THE GEOLOGY OF THE SYRACUSE QUADRANGLE 69 



possesses a diameter of about i8o mm near the base, while the molar 

 which is from the left side of the lower jaw, measures 250 mm 

 on a grinding surface which is incomplete through breakage. 



The specimens indicate a large individual and it is indeed un- 

 fortunate that we have only meager records of its horizon and of 

 the material in which it was found. Mr Cunningham has assured 

 the writer that the position of these remains was quite superficial. 

 An inspection of the locality leads to the belief that the specimens 

 could not have been unearthed much, if at all, above the 400 foot 

 contour. A few fragments of vegetable matter are still adherent 

 on the tusk but the unstained condition of all the specimens makes 

 it unlikely that true peat was the inclosing deposit. 



Both tusk and molar are now in a very friable condition but 

 this, by itself, can hardly be advanced as a certain sign of great 

 antiquity. We are dealing with an extinct animal, it is true, yet 

 no evidence has so far appeared to prove indubitably its reference 

 to any system of deposits differing materially in age from those 

 which included the other mammalian remains considered in this 

 paper. 



HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ABUNDANCE OF MAM- 

 :\IALS IN THE VICINITY OF ONONDAGA LAKE 



The superficial deposits in the vicinity of Onondaga lake are now 

 yielding and have in the historic past always furnished many saline 

 springs. For this reason the abundance a century ago of the 

 mammals which still exist in the more unsettled portions of the 

 ■ State is in no way surprising. The presence in large numbers of the 

 American bison or bufifalo at about the same date is, however, 

 not generally admitted. The occurrence of a fossil specimen at 

 Syracuse and of the bear and deer remains near Onondaga lake 

 throws an interesting light upon the following curious account 

 published by Thomas Ashe^ in 1808: 



I The native animals of the country too, as the bufifalo, elk, deer 

 etc. are well known to pay periodical visits to the saline springs and 

 lakes, bathing and washing in them, and drinking the water till 

 they are hardly able to remove from their vicinity. Tlie best road^ 

 to the Onondargo from all j^arts, are the l)uficdo tracks ; so called 

 from having been observed to be made 1)y the l)ufi'aloes in their 

 annual visitations to the lake from their pasture grounds; and 

 though this is a distance of above two hundred miles, the best 



^ Travels in America, Performed in 1806. etc. London 1R08. p. 47. 



