The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-24
Within Arctic Circle

Within Arctic Circle
II a paper of the Smithsonian miscel-
laneous collections. describing this speci
laen, Mr. J. y. Gidley remarks that while
the specimen itself is insignificant, yet
its presence IN the collection proves un-
questiouably that camels once existed IN
locality north of the arctic circle, The
lind Was located at point about 80
miles from the mouth of theslold Grow
river in the Yukon territory. Canada. not
far from the YukonzAlaslzan boundary
line. The Old Grow rises in Alaska,
crosses the dividing line ana join the
Porcupine river a branch of the Yukon
flowing from Yukon into Alaska. Here
tofore the northern limit of the range of
fossil camels in America has been Silver
lake or, Christmas lake OREGON which
is lrst north Of the forty-tiHrd peralel OF
attitude and some 20 degrees to the south
OF the new northern limit E4f
II is known that several large species
of camels were very abundant on this
eoptinent during both the Pliocene ami
the Ploistocese periods and the discovery
OF their remains in the Pleistocene de-
posits Of the Alaskan peninsula was not
altceether unlocked for. although thelr
occurrence so far within the arctic cir
cle Was scarcely expected This verifi-
cation Of their former presence Within
that region. therefore. is of especial in
terest. in that it greatly extends the
known gcogra phic distribution Of this i'm
Pc, tant group of mammals in America
during this period. ncidently adding
proof in support of the suppositlon thar
.milder climatic conditions prevailed in
ALASKA during probably the greater par;
OF the Pleistocene period. 1t also tends
to support the theory of the existence
of the wide Asiatic-Alask land connec
ton of comparatively recent date which
for a great length of time served as a
highway for the migration of mammals
from the old world to America.
The footbone found by Mr. Armory is
uniristakabiy that of a camel and closely
resembles similar bones of a living spe-
cies
Skull of Horse
A no less Interesting acquisition of the
national museum is the fossil skull of
horse which is reported on by DR.. O. r.
Hay of the Carnegie institution in the
Smithsonian miscellaneous collections,
under the title description of the skull
of an extinct horse found in Central
Alaska" This skull was found by Mr..
c. P. Snyoer in the course of mining
operations rear lofty, Alaska, a small.
mining town situated on Sul.ivans creek.
about "a miles southwest of Rampant, and
seven miles northwest of Hot Springs.
The skull is remarkably we'll preserved,
stalHeu Drown, and altnouSn thoroughly
mroralized, ietains its original structure.
1T is somewhat broken on the top part of
the nose, and the lower jaw is missing,
but the teeth are in fine condition. It's
in portance is enhanced by the fact thai
Hitherto our knowledge of Alaskan horses
has been based on very scant remains,
such Is single teeth, or very few
teeth associated together and a few
bones or fragments of them. Such re-
n aims had been found. however, at a
number of places; and. meager as they
We're, they showed that at some time in
the past horses had been widely dis
tribltted in this apparently barren region.
With lis report. DR.. Hay published n
nap showing the localities where evil
dences of fossil horses have been found
in Alaska and Yukon, as far as they
have come to his notice, and also men
tions the other finds and their location
making many technical comparisons
Similar to Nebraskan Find
The horse whose skull has just come
to light was probably a male of about
six years. the upper canine teeth are
we'll developed. After making a series of