October, 1841.] 115 



General observations. The specimen above described was pur- 

 chased by the Rev. Charles Eden, of Monrovia, of one of the 

 African natives, and sent to Dr. Blanding of this city, who, with his 

 accustomed liberality, pi. iced it in my hands for observation and 

 description. A drawing of the animal was recently shown to M. 

 Bibran, of the Gardeo of Plants, by the artist who made it, who 

 informs me that he considers it as new. 



*Dr. Goddard stated that he had examined the so-called 

 " Missourium Kochii," and found it to be a skeleton composed 

 of Mastodon bones, most of which appeared to belong to a 

 single set, many, however, having been superadded, and 

 others mended and glued together in a manner wholly errone- 

 ous. 



The following errors were especially noticed: 



Spine. The spine presented the anomaly of 8 cervical ver- 

 tebrae ; and instead of 19 dorsal and 4 lumbar, had 23 dorsal 

 and 10 lumbar vertebras, making the number of bones in the 

 spine too great by 11. The bones articulated with the 2nd 

 and 4th ribs were cervical vertebrae. The spaces between 

 the vertebrae were much magnified by thick wooden blocks 

 placed between them, and the spine was curved upwards, so 

 as to give an exaggerated idea of the height of the animal. 



Ribs. These were redundant in number, and were spread 

 out as much as possible, so as to present the appearance of a 

 wide and flat chest. The 1st pair of ribs were stuck on the 

 bones of the shoulder, to resemble clavicles bones which the 

 Mastodon does not possess. 



Head. The head was that of a Mastodon with the top de- 

 ficient, and a piece of an ethmoidal ? bone glued on in front to 



*This communication was made to the Societyat the meeting of October 

 12th. The MS. having been inadvertently mislaid, its contents could not 

 be inserted in their proper place. Editors. 



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