82 QUADRUPEDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



the towns upon the Hoosic Mountain range, and there is but little 

 doubt, that in the more wooded parts of the State it would become 

 an inhabitant again if unmolested by dogs and hunters. 



Fossil Species. 



A subject of great interest to the naturalist is the extinction of 

 species. It will be perceived, on consulting the preceding pages, 

 that a few animals which were once common to this State, are 

 now driven from its bounds, and that when civilization shall have 

 extended a little farther into the wilds of the forest, they, to- 

 gether with many more, will become extinct. In the course of 

 my investigations or inquiries, I have ascertained that another 

 animal of the deer tribe must have been also common to New 

 England and New York, but that it has now totally disappeared. 

 This animal was either the Canada Elk, or else was a distinct 

 species from any now known to America. I am not able to 

 satisfy myself whether the animal in question was the Canada 

 Elk, in consequence of not having a skull for comparison ; but I 

 am rather inclined to think that it was a larger animal, and analogous 

 to the Irish Elk. In this conjecture, it is quite possible I may be 

 mistaken. Without, however, wasting time in conjecture, I pro- 

 ceed to state the facts in my possession relating to it. 



The most important relics of this animal which have fallen under 

 my observation, are a tooth, and a horn of the second year's 

 growth. The tooth was taken from a clay bed along with several 

 others in Chautauque County, New York. It is the last molar of 

 the right side of the upper jaw ; to it were attached a portion of 

 the palatine bone, and the whole of the alveolar process. It is in 

 a state of good preservation, and is not changed in its substance. 

 It is an old tooth, being worn considerably. The following are 

 its dimensions. 



in. t'ths. 

 Greatest spread of the fangs, . • . . 1 7i 



Transverse diameter of the crown, . . . .15 

 Shortest diameter of the crown, .... 12 



I understood from the person who furnished me with the tooth, 

 that it was the smallest of several taken from the same place. 

 The horn, spoken of above, belongs to the Museum of the Col- 



