24 FOURTH REPORT — 1834. 



no more than the soil brought down from the high grounds by 

 rains and land floods. In this yellow earth are found, along 

 the water courses at various depths, the bones of Buffalos (Bi- 

 son) and other modern animals, many broken, but often quite 

 entire. Beneath this is another thinner layer of a different soil, 

 bearing the appearance of having been formerly the bottom of a 

 marsh. It is more gravelly, darker coloured, softer, and con- 

 tains remains of reedy plants, smaller than the cane so abundant 

 in some parts of Kentucky, with shells of freshwater MoUusca. 

 In this layer, and sometimes partially imbedded in a stratum of 

 blue clay, very compact and tenacious, are deposited the bones 

 of extinct species." Mr. Cooper has been at the pains to com- 

 pute, from the teeth and other parts known to have been re- 

 moved from Big Bone Lick, the number of individuals requisite 

 to furnish the specimens already carried off: 



Mastodon maxiinus .... 100 individuals, 



Elephas primigenius ... 20 — 



Megalonyx Jeffersonii . . 1 — 



Jios bombifrons 2 — 



Bos Pallasii 1 — 



Cervus americaniis .... 2 — 

 and it is probable that some still remain behind. 



It is possible that the Horse ought to be added to this list of 

 animals once indigenous to America. During the early settle- 

 ment of the country, the great bones were either lying on the 

 surface of the ground, or so near it as to be obtained with very 

 little labour. 



The next most important kind of locality in which such re- 

 mains are often found, is simply a soft bog or meadow, where 

 most of the finest specimens known in this country have been 

 obtained. As an example of the common condition in which 

 the Mastodon is found, I may describe the situation of one dis- 

 interred in 1824 near the sea-coast of New Jersey, three miles 

 from Longbranch. "The proprietor of the farm, walking over 

 a reclaimed marsh, observed something projecting through the 

 turf, which he struck with his foot, and found to be a grinder 

 tooth. Two other teeth, some pieces of the skull, the spine, the 

 humeral, and other bones were afterwards found. The soil 

 around was a soft dark peat, full of vegetable fibres. Though 

 the skull and many other bones had been removed before 

 Messrs. Cooper, Dekay, and Van Ransaeller, examined the spot, 

 they were able to behold the vertebral column with all the joints, 

 the ribs articulated to them, resting in their natural position, 

 about eight or ten inches below the surface. The scapulae both 

 rested upon the heads of the humeri, and these^ as in life, in ? 



