82 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



vicinity of Onondaga lake. Smallwood was of the opinion that 

 these remains were of comparatively recent origin but Burnett 

 Smith 52 in giving an account of the same specimens expressed the 

 belief that they were of considerable antiquity. Smith states, 

 "... all the bones were secured during excavations which 

 reached from the surface through the peaty layers into the marl 

 below. The specimens were found immediately above the marl at 

 a depth of about 10 feet. Even allowing for the sinking of heavy 

 carcasses through soft material, one is justified in assuming a con- 

 siderable antiquity for remains found in such deposits at that 

 depth." Plate 19 is reproduced from Museum Bulletin 171. 



The bones recovered consisted of " two skulls, three mandibles, 

 two left mandibular rami, three left humeri, two right humeri, one 

 left tibia, one right tibia and one right fibula." 



Cystophora cristata Erxleben Seal 



" In 1901 the New York State Museum received from Dr D. S. 

 Kellogg, Plattsburg, New York, the tibia of a seal which had been 

 recovered in October of that year from the postglacial clays within 

 the city limits. The bone was found at a depth of 1 1 feet below the 

 surface during the construction of a sewer trench on Bailey avenue. 

 The soil at this locality was said to consist of a layer of sand 4 or 5 

 feet thick overlying fine clay. Fossil marine shells, M a c o m a 

 greenlandica {Beck), were abundant in the upper part of the 

 layer of clay but none were found at the depth of the imbedded 

 bone. 



" The specimen has been examined by Mr Remington Kellogg of 

 the Biological Survey and the following statements quoted from a 

 recent letter will indicate its affinities. A young individual of 

 Cystophora cristata (no. 14013, U. S. N. M.) from New- 

 foundland . . . shows a very close approach to the fossil tibia. 

 The lower extremity is approximately the same, including the facet 

 for the fibula. The curvature of shaft and angle formed by the 

 suture for the epiphysis of head, same as in C. cristata. The 

 shaft of the tibia of the fossil specimen is a little thicker in the 

 median region than is the condition in C. cristata. Although 

 similar in essential characteristics to the recent specimen with 

 which it was compared, it is perhaps best, on account of the frag- 

 mentary condition of the remains, to record the bone as the left 



N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 171, 1914, P- 65, 2 pi. 



