THE GEOLOGY OF THE SYRACUSE QUADRANGLE 65 



Ursus americanus Pallas 



Black bear 



Plate 1 



Locality. Will and Baumer factory, north side of Ley creek on 

 the east shore of Onondaga lake, New York (see U. S. G. S. topo- 

 graphic sheet of the Syracuse quadrangle). 



These remains were briefly described by Smallwood * in 1903. 

 They comprise two skulls, three mandibles, two left mandibular 

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

 tibia, and one right fibula. 



The smaller skull is, on the whole, not so well preserved as the 

 larger skull. Many measurements which were made in the larger 

 were not attempted in the case of the smaller skull. 



This collection of bones indicates five or more individuals. Com- 

 parisons with recent specimens of the black bear from New York and 

 Pennsylvania disclose no differences which can be regarded as 

 specific. Professor Smallwood in his original description suggests 

 that we are dealing with animals which were killed by man. Certain 

 holes in the larger skull do have more or less resemblance to those 

 made by bullets but while admitting freely (as one must admit in 

 dealing with any Quaternary fossil) that man may have been the 

 cause of death, the author considers that these remains exhibit no 

 indubitable evidence of such a cause. Mr Edward Baumer of Syra- 

 cuse states that all the bones were secured during excavations which 

 reached from the surface through the peaty layers into marl below. 

 The specimens were found immediately above the marl at a depth 

 of about 10 feet. Even allowing for the sinking of heavy car- 

 casses through soft material, one is justified in assuming a consid- 

 erable antiquity for remains found in such deposits at that depth. 

 Though the inclosing material was accumulated not far from a 

 still extant water body which is subject to considerable fluctuation 

 in level, the author feels at liberty to express the opinion that these 

 specimens are older and perhaps very much older than the white 

 settlement of the region. 



Odocoileus americanus (Erxleben) 

 Virginia deer or White-tailed deer 

 Locality. Will and Baumer factory, north side of Ley creek on 

 the east shore of Onondaga lake, New York (see U. S. G. S. topo- 

 graphic sheet of the Syracuse quadrangle). 



1 W. M. Smallwood. The Remains of Bear and Deer on the Shores of 

 Onondaga Lake. Science, n.s., v. 18, no. 444, p. 26, 27. July 3, 1903. 



