312 LIFE OF THE PLEISTOCENE 



The lower layers contain woody fibers. The peat rests on a bed of fine sand 

 several feet in thickness, which in turn is underlaid by clay and gravel. The 

 sand often contains trunks, roots, and branches of trees and also berries of 

 cedar (Juniperus virginianus). The wood is partly coniferous,but ash, hickory, 

 sycamore, beech, and wild grape also occur. The tusks of the mastodon were 

 also found. The peat bed is said to be of wide extent. In Columbus County, 

 near Matville, 136 a section shows the Sangamon soil underlaid by Illinoian 

 drift. The section is in the east bluff of Big Darby Creek and the succession of 

 strata is as noted below: 



4. Weathered till and present dark soil grading into the next (Wisconsin) 3-4 feet 



3. Fresh, loose, stony yellow clay till, with sharp contact between it and no. 2 



(Wisconsin) 12-5 " 



2. Much weathered, dark, compact soil-like material gradually passing into the 



next below (Sangamon) 2-4 " 



1. Characteristic dense, blue old drift (Illinoian) 50 feet 



A similar section is published by Hubbard 137 from Springwater Run, near 

 Harrisburg, the old soil being overlaid by 30 feet of Wisconsin till. In Hocking 

 County Sangamon soils with forest remains are frequently encountered. Near 

 Palmyra and Springfield old soils with limbs of trees, sticks, leaves, etc. are 

 recorded at depths of 16, 18, 20, 24, 26, 30 40, and 45 feet beneath the surface. 

 Every well dug encounters this deposit. 138 



An earlier till sheet with overlying interglacial deposits has been recognized 

 in northern Ohio. Carney 139 distinguished an earlier, bluish clay under a 

 yellow clay near Cleveland, and Scudder 140 has identified four species of beetles 

 from clay beds believed to be interglacial, which occur near Cleveland. The 

 deposits are similar to those at Scarboro, Canada. The four species are: 



Hydrochus amictus Pterostkhns dormitans 



Helophorus rigescens Bembidium fragmentum 



Wright 1 * 1 has described a deposit at Amboy, Ashtabula County, which may 

 be referable to the same horizon from which the insects mentioned above were 

 obtained. Many logs were noted, lying side by side, covered by 30 feet of 

 gravel, in which was found a tooth and a tusk of the mammoth. The log 

 deposit is 140 feet above Lake Erie. 



138 Bull. 14, Geol. Surv. Ohio, p. 67. 

 137 Bull. 14, p. 66. 



139 Silliman, Amer. Joum. Sci., (i), XXV, pp. 104-107. 



139 Journ. Geol., XVII, pp. 473-487. 



140 Contr. Can. Pal., II, part 1, page 27; Amer. Journ. Sci., (iii), XL VIII, p. 182. 



141 Proc. Amer. As. Ad. Sci., XLVII, p. 298. 



