514 MEMOIR ON 



The lower jaw of the Mammoth is furniilied with four 

 teeth, two on each fide; and being unafTociated either 

 with incifores or canhii, it may reafonably be inferred, that 

 this animal was of a nature not wholly carnivorous, but 

 mixed. 



Another part of what we term Mammoth remains, con- 

 fifts of fragments of ribs of a lingular conftrudion ; being- 

 all bent on the edge. Such a form is eminently calculated 

 for ftrengthening a frame which, perhaps, was ordained to 

 fubfifl by the deftrudion of other animals, both active and 

 powerful. 



I fliall take the liberty to give, in this place, the fubftance 

 of a few obfervations made by certain writers concerning 

 the Mammoth Ikeleton, It may aflifl us in forming fome 

 idea of the uncommon ftature of the animal. 



In the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences, vol. II. part ift, there is a defcription of a tufk 

 found feveral years ago in the river Chemung, or Tioga, 

 a branch of the Sufquehannah. It was fix feet nine inches 

 long, twenty-one inches around at the larger end and fifteen 

 at the fmaller ; and was incurvated nearly into the arc of 

 a large circle. This, however, was but a fragment ; for 

 it appeared as if the length of two or three feet had perifla- 

 ed at each end. 



Strahlenberg* relates, that an entire fkeleton of the Mam- 

 moth was difcovered in Siberia, near lake Tzana Oferoj that 

 it meafured thirty-fix Ruffian ells in length ;-f- and fo great 

 was the diftance between the oppofite ribs, that a man Hand- 

 ing upright on the concavity of a rib, as the fkeleton refted 

 on its fide, could not quite reach the oppofite one, though 

 with the aid of a pretty long battle axe which he held in 



his 



* Hiftorico-Geographical Defcription of the North and Eaftem Parts 

 •f Europe and Afia, p. 104. 



t The Ruffian ell is equal to 28-1^ inches Englifh, 



