On the Great Mastodon. 343 



a motive in itself more than sufficient to impose upon us a more 

 difficult task, and the end satisfactorily attained, is more than 

 adequate compensation for tlie labour bestowed. 



CLASS MAMMALIA. 



ORDER PACHYDERMATA. 



Gekus Mastodon, Cuv. 

 M. giganteum or maximus of Cuv. 

 Recherches but les Ossemens Fossiles, vol. i. 3d. edition ; S. L. Mitchiirs edi- 

 tion of Cuvier's Theory of the Earth ; Harlan's Fauna Americana ; Cooper's 

 Notice of Big-bone Lick, Am. Monthly Journal of Geology ; Peale's Account 

 of the Skeleton of the Mammoth, 4to. \ Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. ; Ann. of Lye. 

 Nat. Hist. N. York ; Syn. Tetracaulodon, of Godman, Trans. Am. Philos. 

 Soc. vol. iii. new series ; Mammoth of the Anglo-Americans, '■^ Father oj the 

 Buffaloes''' of the Indians, Animal d'Ohio of the French. 



LocaZi/!^.— Confined to North America, principally in the 

 valley of the Ohio, Big-bone Lick, Kentucky, but occurring in 

 every state of the Union. Specimens of the teeth and bones 

 in most cabinets of natural history. A skeleton nearly com- 

 plete, both in the Philadelphia and Baltimore museums. 



Place in the Geological Series, — Not yet ascertained with suf- 

 ficient accuracy. According to De la Beche, " Geolog. Manual,*" 

 occurring not later than his " Erratic Block Group,''' which also 

 includes the elephant or mammoth, and five other species of 

 mastodon, together with the genera Hippopotamus, Rhinoce- 

 ros, Tapir, Cervus, Bos, Hyena, Ursus, Megalonyx, Megathe- 

 rium, &c. 



M. De la Beche remarks, p. 169 : — " The relative age of 

 the deposit in which the American Mastodons are found, can 

 not be considered as satisfactorily ascertained. Some geologists 

 are of opinion that these animals have disappeared more recently 

 than is commonly supposed ; that is, previous to the commence- 

 ment of the modern group."' 



. In most instances, there is sufficient evidence that these ani- 

 mals died, and left their bones to become fossihzed in the pre- 

 cise situations in which they are now found; and that they 

 have been brought from a distance or exposed to the action of 

 running waters, which proves clearly that they have been de- 

 stroyed subsequently to the action of those causes which foimed 

 the beds of gravel or diluvial detritus, in and upon which they 

 are frequently found. . -r 



