454 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



grinders and the tusks, which were five or six inches long, about 

 three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and seem to have projected 

 more than an inch from the bone. Of the other three, the skulls and 

 most of the larger bones are in good preservation. We measured 

 some parts of the largest of them, as follows ; — 



Skull — from top of head at junction of the muscles of the neck to 

 end of bone between the tusks — 3 feet 4 inches. 

 ... Between the large cavities for the ears across the forehead — 



2 feet. 

 ... Orbit of the eye — vertical diameter, 6 inches. 

 ... Reniform orifice below the eyes (communication between 

 trunk and brain, &c.), 10 inches across by 4 inches verti- 

 cally. 

 ... Oval orifice below this (communication between trunk and 



throat), 5^ inches vertically by 3 across. 

 ... Tusk, from insertion, 2 feet 3 inches — whole length 3 feet 1 

 inch, and about 3 inches in diameter. 

 Pelvis, 4 feet 10 inches across, by 3 feet 8 inches. 

 Femoral bone, 3 feet long, 1 foot 1^ inch in circumference in the 



middle. 

 Scapula, 2 feet 5 inches long, 2 feet 1 inch wide, measuring over 

 the projection. 



There were three grinders on each side above, and the same num- 

 ber below. The two others and the calf had four teeth on each side, 

 both above and below, but the forward ones were evidently " milk 

 teeth," which would have been shed at a more advanced age. In 

 none of these four did the back grinders appear to have cut through 

 the gum. The largest of the five had had three grinders on each 

 side in each jaw. All the grinders were of the same character, ha- 

 ving the projecting conical points which distinguish the Mastodon. 

 In one of the skulls, the tusks projected outwards and inclined up- 

 wards, while in the other two they were inclined downwards and 

 nearly parallel. This diff^erence, and that in the number of the teeth, 

 had induced Mr. Ayers to believe that the remains belonged to more 

 than one species. But Mr. Maxwell considered it to be evident that 

 the only diflTerences are those of age and sex. The bones which he 

 measured, he supposed to be those of a female. The other two were 

 younger animals, as was evident both from the teeth and the sutures 

 of the skull ; and as the skull with projecting tusks seemed to have a 

 broader and rounder outline than the others, it probably belonged 

 to a young male. 



Mr. Ayers walked with Mr. Maxwell to the spot where they were 

 dug out, and described the position in which they were discovered. 

 North-west of the Musconetcong Valley, in which Hackettstown is 

 situate, lies a range of highlands about two miles wide, rising per- 

 haps 350 feet above the valley, and separating it from the valley of 

 the Pequest. This ridge, which is of gneiss, and has, like all our 

 mountains, a general course of about north-east, is cut into sections 

 by transverse depressions, or hollows running generally about south 



