SUMMARY OF THE LIFE OF THE PLEISTOCENE 373 



associated with them. Mollusks are excellent indicators of ecological condi- 

 tions, which they usually rather accurately attest. 



III. Man in the Pleistocene 



It is singular that the bones of Homo have not been found in America in 

 connection with interglacial deposits. There are several references in the 

 literature to such remains in connection with glacial deposits, but investiga- 

 tion has nearly always resulted in referring the specimens to recent burial or 

 inclusion. Some years ago parts of a human skeleton were found in deposits 

 at Lansing, Kansas, thot to be loess of Peorian Age. 9 Later investigations, 10 

 however, led to the conclusion that the human relics were later in age than the 

 deposits in which they were found, and it was also shown that the deposit was 

 not loess. 11 



In Europe, parts of skeletons, as well as cultural articles, have been found 

 in connection with interglacial deposits. The oldest human remains (des- 

 cribed as Homo heidelbergensis) were found in deposits referable to the Mindel- 

 Riss interglacial epoch of European glacialogists, which is correlated in time 

 with the Yarmouth or second interglacial interval of American glacialogists. 12 

 Cultural articles in Europe have also been found in deposits of middle Oligocene 

 age. 



Recently, human remains have been reported from deposits in Florida 

 apparently referable to early or middle Pleistocene time. These deposits 

 occur at Vero, on the Atlantic coast of east-central Florida, chiefly in an old 

 stream bed which was uncovered during the construction of a drainage canal. 

 The strata were undisturbed previous to the canal work and it is thot that the 

 human remains, as well as the vertebrate remains associated with them, were 

 deposited in the stream during Pleistocene time. 13 There were associated with 

 the human remains, in addition to the bones of birds, reptiles, amphibians, 

 and fishes, a number of mammal skeletons mostly fragmentary, belonging to the 

 following species: 



Didelphis virginiana Sigmodon hispidus 



Dasyptts species Neotoma floridana 



CMamylherium septentrionalis Neofiber alhnl 



'Upham, Amer. Geol, XXX, pp. 135-150, 1902; Science, N. S., XVI, p. 355; Amer. 

 Geol., XXXII, pp. 185-187, 1903; Williston, Science, N. S., XVI, pp. 195-196, 1902; Amer. 

 Geol., XXXV, pp. 342-346, 1905. 



10 Calvin, Chamberlin, Salisbury, Journ. Geol., X, pp. 745-779, 1902; Shimek, Amer. 

 Geol., XXXII, pp. 362-364, 1904. 



11 Shimek, Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist., Univ. Iowa, V, pp. 346-352, 1904. See also Proc. Iowa 

 Acad. Sci., XXIV, pp. 93-98, 1917. 



12 Osborn, Men of the Old Stone Age; The Age of Mammals. 



15 Sellards, Science, N. S., XLIV, pp. 615-617, 1916; 8th An. Rept. Florida Geol. Surv., 

 pp. 121-160, 1916; 9th An. Rept., Florida Geol. Surv., pp. 69-81, 1917. Also Nelson, Science, 

 N. S., XLVII, pp. 394-395, 1918. 



