FINDS OF ELEPHANTS OF UNDETERMINED SPECIES IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.
The rather numerous specimens of elephants here described are those whose specific identity can not at present be determined. Often the discovery of elephant remains, especially of teeth, has been reported without any attempt at description or identification; or they may have been referred to _Elephas primigenius_ at a time when no specific distinctions were recognized among our elephants. In probably most cases the specimens reported have been lost. The great majority of them belonged either to _Elephas primigenius_ or to _E. columbi_. It has seemed worth while to keep record of these unidentified specimens; for equally with the others they show the presence of Pleistocene deposits.
1. _Long Island, James Bay._—In 1898 (Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. IX, p. 371, fig. 1), Robert Bell reported the discovery of an elephant tooth on Long Island, identified by Boyd Dawkins as that of _Elephas columbi_; by Cope as probably a variety intermediate between _E. columbi_ and _E. primigenius_. No measurements were given by Bell, and the tooth was figured obliquely, so its proportions can hardly be determined. Cope regarded it as a hindermost molar, but it appears to be a last milk molar or a first true molar. It is remarkable for the great thickness of the cement between the enamel plates.
The tooth was reported found on the naked rock of an island nearly bare of soil. It might be supposed that a tooth thus exposed would soon have been destroyed by weathering. Lucas (Geol. Surv. Maryland, Pleistocene vol., p. 151) expressed the opinion that it had been carried there by water or ice. One might suppose it had been brought to the island by human agency. Of its geological age nothing can be said, except that it is Pleistocene. This locality is not marked on the map of elephants of undetermined species, as it lies somewhat too far north.
1. _St. Catharines, Lincoln County._—In 1866 (Cat. Casts Foss., p. 37, fig.), Henry A. Ward represented a cast of an elephant tooth which appears to be the lower right hindermost molar. The original is stated to have been found at St. Catharines and to be in a museum at Niagara. It is possible that this is the tooth described on another page as _Elephas columbi_ and now in the Victoria Museum at Toronto; but, while Ward’s figure represents the greater length of the tooth as worn, in the other tooth only 6 plates are worn. It is possible that the figure is incorrectly drawn.