Figure 15. 



into mure or less distinct tubercles, with the tips merely pointed or 

 irregularly cupped. Figure 15 shows the humerus of a Giant Ground 

 Sloth, undoubtedly belonging to the beast whose skull is shown in 

 Figure 10. 



The specimens figured are of two individuals. The femur is 

 from a mature and a larger animal, the remainder of which has 

 not yet been found. The skull is of a young animal about two- 

 thirds grown, however, so complete that every detail can be made 

 out. The dentition is perfect, large and massive, and presents a 

 beautiful, dark glossy luster. The tusks were represented only by 

 short portions which were four inches in diameter, while the whole 

 was probably four feet long. 



During the excavation of these remains no little excitement pre- 

 vailed about the place, as scores of wonderstruck and admiring 

 visitors daily came to see the skull of the largest group of animal 

 that ever stalked our valleys and drank at our springs. Good skulls 

 are few in the United States, although fragmentary ones have been 

 found in great numbers. These huge beasts which weighed more 

 than our present elephants, were widely distributed over North 

 America, appearing so far as known, in the greater numbers in the 

 Mississippi Valley, being especially abundant in New York, Ohio and 

 Kentucky. The earliest finds were made in New York, and were 

 described as human bones of great giants. To identify such bones 

 as being those of man, affords an illustration of the wild desire to 

 find human remains associated with all animals. 



The elephant is represented in the beds by only a ' tooth and 

 possibly by a few bones, enough however to prove their presence 

 here. The other specimen of a tooth figured in connection with the 

 dentition of the mastodon, was obtained by Mr. Homer Hamlin at 

 Tnglewood in the excavations of the outfall sewer, fifty feet below 

 the surface. It is not through the direct relationship of this species, 

 Elephas Columbi that the line of descent is traced, but through another 

 species of North America, which is equivalent to E. Primogenus of 

 Europe, which in turn is closely allied to the elephants of India 



46 



