310 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



grounds. Such is the theory to which Sir J. Richardson gives his 

 adhesion, and which must be adopted as the most probable till fur- 

 ther light shall be thrown upon the subject. 



The number of species of animals brought from Eschscholtz Bay 

 are not numerous, but they belong chiefly to an order of the Mam- 

 malia the Ruminantina whose identity it is more difficult to 

 determine by the structure of their skeletons. The principal animals 

 to which the remains are supposed to belong are the Mammoth 

 (Elplias primigenius), the Horse (Equus fossilis), the Moose-deer 

 (Cervus alces), the Reindeer (Cervus tarandus), the Musk-ox (Ocibos 

 moschatus), several species of Bison, the Big-horn Ram (Ovis mon- 

 tand), and some Cetaceans. 



FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE MASTODON GIGANTEUS. 



THE fossil remains of a mastodon have recently been discovered in 

 a gravel bank near Zanesville, Ohio, making the third of this species 

 taken from the same locality within a comparatively recent period. 

 The one last discovered, was in a state of preservation much better 

 than the former two, and may, when completely exhumed, show 

 almost the entire bones and frame of animal. The molar teeth, four 

 in number, all that the species possess, were found in the jaws sound 

 and unbroken ; two of them weigh twenty pounds each. The tusks 

 were not in as good condition, one only being sound enough to bear 

 moving. This one, eight feet in length, measures at its base, 26^- 

 inches in circumference, and at the point eight feet distant, where it 

 is broken off, 16|- inches in circumference, the whole length of which 

 was probably 1 2 feet more. 



During the past year, a nearly entire skeleton of a mastodon has 

 been found near Easton, Pennsylvania. The bones belonged to an 

 animal of advanced age, as is shown by the condition of the grinders ; 

 the surfaces of these being nearly smooth and even. Many portions 

 of this skeleton were in an excellent state of preservation, and the 

 tusks especially are among the finest that have yet been discovered. 

 These remains are to be deposited in the cabinet of Williams College, 

 Massachusetts. 



Bones of the mastodon were also discovered in New Britain, Conn., 

 in October last. They were discovered on the land of a Mr. 

 Churchill, not far from the main street of the village. The skeleton 

 in this case was quite imperfect. 



REMAINS OF REPTILES IN THE OLD RED, OR DEVONIAN FOR- 

 MATION OF SCOTLAND. 



CONSIDERABLE interest has been excited among British geologists, 

 by the announcement of the occurrence of the remains of two or 

 more orders of reptiles, in the old red sandstone of Scotland, 

 inasmuch as no vestiges of animals of a higher order than fishes had 

 been observed hitherto in the Devonian formation, in any part of the 



