377 



a fossil tooth of the Mastodon, obtained about forty miles 

 west of Chicago, and about eight feet from the surface of 

 the ground. The President said it was the largest speci- 

 men ever seen or described, as far as he knew, and, from its 

 size, it might be at first supposed to belong to a new species, 

 but its structure is the same as that of the Mastodon gigan- 

 teus. For the sake of comparison, the President showed a 

 tooth of the Elephas primigenius, belonging to a set of three 

 found at Lanesville, Ohio, and now in his possession. The 

 tooth of the Mastodon was much inferior in size to these 

 teeth, one of them measuring seventeen inches in length, 

 and having thirty ridges. The President also exhibited the 

 plates of which the tooth is composed, when united by the 

 cement, these plates having accidentally been found loose in 

 one of his specimens. 



Prof. Wyman stated that Owen considers the European 

 and North American species of Fossil Elephant as identical, 

 but that he himself is not satisfied, as yet, for several 

 reasons, that this is so. In the American species the teeth 

 have more ridges than the teeth of any other elephant, the 

 greatest number given by Owen in the European species 

 being twenty-eight. These teeth have thirty ridges. The 

 law of the Geographical Distribution of Animals is also 

 against it; for, according to Owen, the European species 

 is very widely distributed, extending over the whole of 

 Europe, the North of Africa, part of Asia, and the whole 

 of North America. This is too great a range for one 

 species. 



Prof. Wyman thought that there was no real diagnostic 

 sign yet known ; but that all the evidence taken together, 

 renders probable the distinction of the species. At some 

 future time the discovery of the skull will probably settle the 

 question either for or against the identity of the species. 



In one of the teeth of the mammoth (Fossil Elephant) 



