344 On the Great Mastodon. 



Not only are the teeth and bones of this animal unworn by 

 the action of running waters, but the skeleton is not unfre- 

 quently discovered in a standing position, just as the animal 

 has sunk into the marsh or mud, clay and sand. Such were 

 those from Great Osage river. — Cuv. An. Foss. vol. i. p. 222, 

 and in the skeleton noticed by Dekay and others. Ann. N. Y. 

 Lyceum. 



In some instances, it would appear that the stomach itself, 

 with its vegetable contents, has been preserved. In a letter 

 addressed to Cuvier, by the late Professor B. S. Barton, there 

 is an account of the discovery of the remains of a mastodon in 

 Withe county, Virginia, five feet and a half beneath the soil, 

 on a bank of limestone. " But what renders this discovery pe- 

 culiarly curious,"" continues M. Cuvier, Anim. Foss. vol. i. 

 p. 219, " is that they collected from amidst these bones, a mass 

 of semimasticated small branches, grasses, leaves, &c., among 

 which it was thought a species of brier, still common in Vir- 

 ginia, was recognisable ; the whole of this being enveloped in 

 a kind of sack, which was regarded as the stomach of the ani- 

 mal, so as to leave little doubt that it consisted of the identical 

 substances which the animal had devoured.^"* 



M. Cuvier further remarks, p. 222, " Indications of the so- 

 journ or passage of the sea over the remains of these animals 

 appear to be more rare than in the case of the elephant bones ; 

 I have never seen any remains of shells or zoophiles on the 

 bones of the great mastodon which I have examined.'' 



During the exploration made by Lieut.-Col. H. S. Long, at 

 Big-bone- lick, in 1824, great quantities of the remains of the 

 elk and bison, both recent and fossil, were disinterred along 

 with the bones of the mastodon. 



From the facts and observations above detailed, together 

 with others of a similar nature, that might be produced, we are 

 led to the conclusion that the great mastodon, and other simi- 

 larly situated animals, must have ceased to exist, at a period 

 much more recent than is generally supposed. There are no 

 evidences of its existence prior to the last general cataclysm. 

 They may even have disappeared, together with the fossil elk, 

 or moose, of Ireland, since the creation of man, though long 

 previous to his earliest historical records. 



