652 ANNUAL REPOUT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



ELEPHANTS CONTEMPORARY WITH MAN. 



Aside from the species of elephant now living, at least three ex- 

 tinct types were coeval with mankind, one distinctly American, the 

 mastodon, Mammiit americanum^ one confined to Europe and South- 

 ern Asia, Eleflias antiquus^ while the third, the hairy mammoth, 

 Elephas primigenius, was common to both, and to northern Asia as 

 well. Of these the mammoth is without exception the best known 

 of all prehistoric animals, for not only have its bones and teeth been 

 found in immense numbers, but, in several instances, frozen carcasses 

 have been discovered nearly or quite intact, the hair, hide, and even 

 the viscera and muscles wonderfully preserved. In many instances 

 these were irrevocably lost or were devoured by the dogs and wolves 

 or by the natives themselves. Two specimens have been preserved, 

 however, and are now in the St. Petersburg Zoological Museum. 



Of these one was found in the Lena Delta in Siberia, in 1799, and 

 secured in 180G. The skeleton with patches of hide adhering to the 

 head and feet may still be seen, but the flesh of the animal was 

 devoured by wolves and bears after being preserved in nature's 

 cold-storage warehouse for thousands of years (pi. 1). In 1901 

 another specimen was found at Beresovka, Siberia, 800 miles west 

 of Bering Strait and 60 miles within the Arctic Circle. It is sup- 

 posed that this creature slipped into a crevasse in the ice which may 

 have been covered by vegetation, as in the Malaspina Glacier of 

 Alaska. That the poor brute died a violent death is certain from 

 the fracture of the hip and one foreleg and the presence of unswab 

 lowed grass between the teeth and upon the tongue. A great mass 

 of clotted blood in the chest tells how suddenly the Reaper overtook 

 it, the creature having burst a blood vessel in its frantic efforts to 

 extricate itself. Much of the hair had been destroyed when the 

 animal was dug out of the cliff, but the collector, M, O. F. Herz, 

 has preserved a very accurate record of texture and color of the hair 

 on different parts of the body. This consists of a woolly undercoat, 

 yellowish-brown in color, and an outer bristly coat varying from 

 fawn to dark brown and black. The hair on the chin and breast 

 must have been at least half a yard in length, and it was also long 

 on the shoulders; that of the back, however, was not preserved. 



This interesting relic is mounted in the St. Petersburg Museum, the 

 skin in the attitude in which it was found, while the skeleton is in 

 walking posture beside it (pi. 2). 



Immense quantities of fossil ivory have been exported from Siberia, 

 there having been sold in the London market as many as 1,635 mam- 

 moth tusks in a single year, averaging 150 pounds in weight; of these 

 but 14 per cent were of the best quality, 17 per cent inferior, while 

 more than half were useless commercially. The total number of 



