Читать книгу The Pleistocene of North America and its vertebrated animals - Oliver Perry Hay - Страница 24
ОглавлениеONTARIO.
1. Nepean Township, Carleton County.—In 1914, Mr. L. M. Lambe, of the Canadian Geological Survey, stated (Summ. Rep. for 1913, p. 299) that Walter Billings, of Ottawa, had presented to the Survey a caudal vertebra of Delphinapterus leucas, found in Pleistocene gravel on lot 15, concession 5, of Nepean township. The locality is near Jock River, a stream which flows northeasterly and enters Rideau River about 11 miles south of Ottawa. With it was sent the lower end of a femur, supposed to belong to the bison.
2. Ottawa East, Carleton County.—In 1910, Mr. L. M. Lambe reported (Summ. Rep. Geol. Surv. Can. for 1909, p. 273) that Mr. A. Penfold had presented to the Survey a caudal vertebra of Delphinapterus leucas, which he had found at Ottawa East, at a depth of 25 feet, while digging a well.
3. Smith’s Falls, Lanark County.—In 1883 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 3, vol. XXV, p. 200) Dr. J. W. Dawson announced the finding of two vertebræ, a part of another, and a fragment of a rib of a large whale, in a ballast pit at Welshe’s, 3 miles north of Smith’s Falls. This whale he identified as Megaptera longimana (M. boöps). The bones were found in gravel at a depth of 30 feet and about 50 feet from the original face of the pit. The elevation of the place is given as about 440 feet above sea-level. Dawson stated that this corresponds exactly with the height of one of the sea-terraces on Royal Mountain at Montreal. He added that this animal might have sailed past that mountain, then only a rocky islet, when a wide sea, 400 feet above the lower levels of Montreal, covered all the plain of the lower St. Lawrence. Inasmuch as the highest terrace containing marine fossils at Montreal stands at a height of about 625 feet (Stansfield, Mem. 73, Canad. Geol. Surv., 1915) above sea-level, the region had apparently risen about 160 feet at least above its lowest submergence when the whale was buried. The discovery of this whale is mentioned by Dawson in his “Canadian Ice Age,” 1894, page 268; also by Professor G. H. Perkins in his Report of the State Geologist of Vermont, 1907–8, page 83.
4. Pakenham, Lanark County.—This locality is about 42 miles north-northwest from Welshe’s, where the whale remains just discussed were found. At Pakenham, in 1906, there were discovered bones, including a nearly perfect skull, of a white whale. The discovery was reported in 1906 and 1907 by Dr. J. F. Whiteaves (Summ. Rep. Geol. Surv. Can. for 1908, p. 171; Ottawa Naturalist, vol. XX, pp. 214–216). The remains were found by a well-digger on a farm (lot 21, 11th concession), and were embedded in blue clay at a depth of 14 feet. Immediately about the bones was a mixture of clay and shells. The animal has been referred to Delphinapterus leucas. As one of the ear-bones was secured, the determination of the species would appear to be possible. According to Perkins, the ear-bone in the type of D. vermontanus differs from that of the existing white whale, D. leucas. The writer is unable to say more than that the whale found at Pakenham belongs to the Late Wisconsin.
5. Cornwall, Stormont County.—In 1870 (Canad. Naturalist and Quart. Jour. Sci., vol. V, pp. 438–439), E. Billings gave an account of the discovery of remains of a white whale at Cornwall. Considerable parts of the skull were secured, including the lower jaws. Besides many vertebræ and some other parts, 8 teeth were saved, but the ear-bones were missing. The animal had been about 15 feet long. Whether it belonged to Delphinapterus leucas or D. vermontanus may be regarded as doubtful. Extracts from Billings’s description are to be found in Professor Perkins’s paper (Rep. State Geologist Vermont, 1907–8, pp. 81–82).
6. Williamstown, Glengarry County.—This place is about 10 miles northeast of Cornwall. In Professor Perkins’s paper just cited it is stated that Edward Ardley, assistant curator at Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal, had found here a few bones of a white whale, the hyoid, a few phalanges, and rib fragments. It is impossible from such limited materials to determine whether the animal was Delphinapterus vermontanus or D. leucas. From Mr. Ardley, through Mr. Arthur Willey, curator of Redpath Museum, the present writer has learned that these bones were dug up from a depth of 14 feet, in a well sunken in the Leda clay. Under the surface soil was a band of sandy clay containing shells of Saxicava and Mya. Beneath this was a stiff blue clay showing stratification and containing shells of Leda.
QUEBEC.
7. Montreal.—In 1863 (Rep. Geol. Surv. Canada, p. 919), W. E. Logan announced the finding of some bones of a whale at the Mile-End quarries, Montreal, on a slight ridge, “where are found stratified sand and gravel holding boulders and shells in the lower part.” In corresponding clays in a neighboring brickyard was found a pelvis of a seal, Phoca grœndlandica. In 1895 (Canad. Rec. Sci., vol. VI, p. 351), Dr. J. W. Dawson reported the discovery of a nearly complete skeleton of another white whale at Montreal. This was found in brick clay, near Papineau Road. The locality is said by Dawson to be about 100 feet above the St. Lawrence; the bones were in the clay at a depth of 22 feet. The clay itself was probably deposited at a depth of 50 to 80 fathoms. This is said by Dawson to correspond approximately with a well-marked shore-line at Montreal, found at a height of about 470 feet above the sea and with the old sea-beach at Smith’s Falls as related on page 17. In 1916, Mr. Edward Ardley, assistant curator of Redpath Museum, reported (Canad. Rec. Sci., vol. IX, pp. 490–493) the discovery of a large part of the skeleton of a white whale, supposed to belong to Delphinapterus leucas, at Montreal East. The skeleton was buried in Leda clay about 15 feet above St. Lawrence River. It was 10.5 feet long. The cranium and lower jaw were secured, besides parts of the trunk and limbs.
8. Rivière du Loup, Temiscouata County.—In his work, “Canadian Ice Age,” 1894, on page 268, Dr. J. W. Dawson reported that bones of Beluga catodon (Delphinapterus leucas) had been found at the place mentioned. It is not probable that parts sufficient for making a definite determination were secured, nor did Dawson give any details regarding the geological conditions connected with the discovery. Doubtless the remains were found in marine deposits of one of the terraces.
9. Metis, Rimouski County.—In the work just cited (p. 269), Dawson stated that in the summer of 1891 he secured a large jawbone of a whale which had been found in digging a cellar in the shelly marl of the lower terrace at Metis. He did not identify the species, but appears to imply that it belonged to either the “humpback” (Megaptera boöps) or to one of the finner whales (Balænoptera).
NEW BRUNSWICK.
10. Jaquet River, Restigouche County.—In 1874 (Trans. Nova Scotia Inst. Sci., vol. III, pp. 400–404), Dr. J. B. Gilpin gave an account of the discovery of some cetacean bones in a railroad cut at the place named, but did not identify the bones otherwise than as those of a small cetacean. In the same year (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 3, vol. VII, p. 597), in a short, unsigned communication, this discovery was mentioned and the whale was identified as Beluga vermontana. In volume VIII of the same journal (1874, p. 219), Dr. D. Honeyman described the deposit and gave a list of the shells found in it. Dawson (Canad. Ice Age, p. 268) refers the bones to Beluga catodon. The locality is a cut of the International Railway, on the north side of the Jaquet River, about 0.25 mile from the sea. Gilpin gives the elevation as 40 feet above the sea; the writer of the unsigned communication just mentioned gives it as 25 feet.
Professor G. H. Perkins (Rep. State Geologist Vermont, 1907–8, pp. 102–112) studied the bones described by Gilpin. They consisted of 18 vertebræ, some fragments of the skull, one of the ear-bones, a part of the lower jaw, some fragments of ribs, and some arm-bones. He identified the animal as belonging to the genus Monodon and probably M. monoceros, the existing narwhal.
11. Mace’s Bay, Charlotte County.—In 1879 (Geol. Survey of Canada, 1877–78, EE, p. 23), Mr. G. F. Matthew reported the discovery of a ramus of the lower jaw of a whale, possibly a species of Delphinapterus, at the mouth of the Popologan (or Pocologan) River. It is now in the Mechanics’ Institute at St. John. It had fallen from a bank of Leda clay. It probably belongs to the late Pleistocene.
VERMONT.
12. Charlotte, Chittenden County.—At this place were discovered considerable parts of a whale, described in 1850 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 2, vol. IX, pp. 256–263) by Zadock Thompson, under the name Beluga vermontana. The animal has by many been regarded as identical with the white whale, Delphinapterus leucas, now appearing sometimes as far up as Montreal. A more extended description of it was given in 1853 (Hist. Vermont, Append., p. 15, figs. 1–13). This was reproduced in Edward Hitchcock’s Report on the Geology of Vermont, 1861, page 164, and was followed by remarks on the specimen by Edward Hitchcock jr. In the second volume of the work just cited (p. 938) Hager furnished a figure of the skeleton as mounted. In 1908 (Rep. State Geologist Vermont, 1907–8, pp. 76–112, plates X-XIX), Professor G. H. Perkins gave an extended description of the remains and reached the conclusion that D. vermontanus is distinct from D. leucas. Since Perkins’s article gives a full history of the discovery and the literature pertaining to the specimen, this account will be much abridged. The bones were found in making a cut for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad, at the town of Charlotte, about a mile east of the shore of Lake Champlain. The bones were 8 or 9 feet below the surface and “were very completely bedded in fine adhesive blue clay.” The locality is 60 feet above the mean level of the lake and 150 feet above the sea. The deposits were laid down in the marine waters which took possession of Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence Valley when the Wisconsin glacial ice had withdrawn north of St. Lawrence River. The geological age of the animal is therefore late Pleistocene.
NORTH CAROLINA.
13. Below New Bern.—In 1842 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XLIII, p. 143), Richard Harlan reported regarding the species of fossil vertebrates found 16 miles below New Bern. His list, which was long and consisted mainly of vernacular names, included “cetaceans.”
SOUTH CAROLINA.
14. Charleston.—In 1860 (Holmes’s Post-Pliocene Foss. South Carolina, p. 117, plate XXIV, fig. 9), Leidy described a cetacean tooth which he called Physeter antiquus. Later the specific name was changed to vetus. At the same time he figured a tooth (fig. 8) found in the Ashley River deposits. He further stated that teeth apparently of the same species had been taken from the Miocene formations of Virginia, but found no characters by which they could be distinguished from those of the recent sperm whale.
GEORGIA.
15. Brunswick.—In 1911 (Bull. No. 26, Geol. Surv. Georgia, p. 436), Gidley reported from here, among other vertebrates, some teeth which he regarded as those of Physeter vetus; but this may not be correct and they may not belong to the Pleistocene.
FLORIDA.
16. Daytona, Volusia County.—In 1916 (Florida Geol. Surv., vol. VIII, p. 105), Doctor Sellards stated that he had obtained from marl-pits worked at this place for road materials a proboscidean tusk and a rib of a whale, probably of the genus Balænoptera. At the same place had been found a tooth of Elephas columbi.
17. De Land, Volusia County.—At this place was obtained the dolphin skull which Sellards described as Globicephalus bæreckeii (Florida Geol. Surv., vol. VIII, p. 107, plate XIV). It was found embedded in sand at a depth of 10 feet. This sand overlies marls which are regarded as Pliocene or Miocene. Sellards believed that the sands belonged to the Pleistocene. It is not improbable that the marls pertain to the Pleistocene of the first glacial time.
