80 
ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 
The complete list of mammals Is as follows:— 
Mammoth (Elephas primi- 
genius). 
Mastodon (Mastodon ameri- 
canus). 
Horse (Equus sp.). 
Moose (Alces sp.). 
Reindeer (Rangifer sp.). 
Musk ox (Ovibos sp.). 
Extinct musk ox (Symbos- 
tyrelli). 
Bison (Bison crassicornis). 
,, (Bison occidentalis). 
,, (Bison alleni). 
Sheep (Ovis sp.). 
Bear (Ursus sp.). 
Beaver (Castor sp.) 
The results of these two expeditions excited so much interest 
in the United States that another was sent out to Alaska by 
the American Museum of Natural History under Mr. 
Quackenbush.* He was fortunate enough in discovering part 
of a mammoth skeleton which still retained the flesh, skin 
and hair similar to those found in northern Siberia. This 
discovery is of particular interest, as it elucidates an extremely 
important feature connected with the preservation of the soft 
parts of mammoths in Siberia. It has been .stated that the 
preservation of the bodies of mammoths is due to their being 
embedded in underground ice. Mr. Gilmore informs us that 
fossils in Alaska have never been found in pure ice masses. 
On the contrary, he makes it quite clear that the flesh, skin 
and hair of the mammoth were preserved to the present time 
because they had been pressed down into the soft mud by the 
weight of the rest of the body. All that remained exposed 
of the body rotted away. The author agrees with the previous 
writers in considering the mammoth and the mammalian re¬ 
mains as Pleistocene. He argues that the climate of this 
period must have been somewhat milder than that of the 
present time, because large trees had been met with associated 
with these mammalian remains in regions which are now tree¬ 
less. He also adds Bootherium bombifrons, the wapiti deer 
and the wolf to the Pleistocene species already known from 
the Yukon territory of Canada. 
From these three most valuable reports we can gather cer¬ 
tain remarkable facts which are apparently antagonistic to 
* Quackenbush, L. S., “Alaskan Mammoth Expeditions,” pp. 125 — 
