1869.] 167 [Shaler. 



November 17, 1869. 

 The President in the chair. Thirty four persons present. 

 Prof. N". S. Shaler presented the following paper : — 



Note on the Occurrence' of the Remains of Tarandus 

 rangifer gray, at blg bone llck in kentucky. 



At a previous meeting of the Society, I presented the evidence 

 going to support the conclusion that one of the large mammals of 

 North America, the buffalo, had recently changed its limits, and had 

 only ranged in the Ohio valley within the past few centuries. The 

 same locality supplies us with evidence that the caribou existed in 

 abundance in this river basin at a time anterior to the coming of the 

 buffalo, and probably not very long after the disappearance of the 

 Elephas primigenius. Since the coming of civilized man into Amer- 

 ica, the caribou has been confined to a narrow area in the north- 

 east part of the continent; it is questionable whether it has ever 

 ranged during this time south of the southern limit of the State of 

 Maine. 



The position in which these remains were found leaves the precise 

 relationship in time of this species to the mammoths and mastodons 

 a little questionable. There is, however, little doubt in my mind 

 that, if not in existence during the later part of the time of these 

 pachyderms, it came immediately after them. Its bones are found 

 always below the line of the buffalo and the Virginia deer. The 

 remains of this latter species are found only among the most recent 

 deposits of the swamp. 



The disappearance from this region of this eminently boreal ani- 

 mal immediately after the passing away of the ancient elephants 

 from the Mississippi valley, goes to confirm a conclusion to which we 

 are led by many other facts, viz., that the climatic change which 

 closed the period of the mammoths was from cold to warmth, and 

 not, as is generally assumed, an alteration of the reverse character. 



Mr. S. H. Scudder exhibited a series of volumes which had 

 just been bound for the library, containing the manuscripts 

 and entomological memoranda left by the late Dr. T. W. 

 Harris, and offered some remarks upon their peculiar value 

 and interest. 



