Introduction 7 



On page 124 " and in Dr. Stein's memoir (Trudi Mineral, Obs. 

 CII, 1830, pp. 382, 383) it is stated that somebody, probably a 

 Promishlenik (a trader), found Mammoth tusks and molar teeth 

 on Unalaska Island in 1801." On pag3 190 " Mammoth tusks were 

 found on the island of St. George (Pribilof group) in the year 

 1836 according to Veniaminoff." ' 



It may thus be seen that Grewingk makes no distinction between 

 the terms Mammoth and Mastodon and apparently is not satisfied 

 that the fossil elephant of Alaska is the typical Elephas primigenius 

 of Siberia. 



Later Dall ^ appears to accept this latter view of Grewingk and 

 mentions that Wossnessenski collected tusks, teeth, and bones of the 

 Elephas primigenius and Elephas columbi near Topanika Creek, 

 Norton Sound. We think the identification of E. columbi needs 

 verification before it is assigned to Alaska. M. T. Obalski * mentions 

 the occurrence of the Mastodon in the placer gravels of the Klon- 

 dike region, but this statement, which the writer understands is not 

 based on the identification of specimens, appears to be an error. 

 Obalski makes another statement that does not appear to be founded 

 on fact. He says ivory tusks 6 meters (19.6 feet) long occur in 

 the Klondike gravels. This statement is an exaggeration. The 

 longest tusk so far reported from Alaska is one 12 feet 10 inches 

 (about 4 meters), measured along the outside of the curve. Re- 

 mains of the rhinoceros have not been reported with those of the 

 mammoth in Alaska, as in Siberia, and it also appears that the re- 

 mains of the mammoth in Alaska are not in as fresh a state of 

 preservation as those found in Siberia, which points to the surmise 

 that the mammoth became extinct in Alaska before the last of the 

 species succumbed in Siberia. Associated with the mammoth were 

 herds of large bison and horses. This species of horse may have 

 been the last native to North America, the rear guard of the last 

 migration of these animals across the region of Bering Straits to 

 Asia before the land connection disappeared. There was a species 

 of musk-ox together with sheep and bear. Descendants of these 

 last three forms have by adaptive changes survived in these northern 

 regions down to the present time. 



The relation that the fauna and flora north of the area occupied 



^ Notes on the Unalaska District, St. Petersburg, 1840, I. p. 106. 



' Report on Coal and Lignite of Alaska. Seventeenth Ann. Rep.. U. S. 

 Geol. Survey, 1896, p. 856. 



*Les grand Mammiferes fossiles dans le Yukon et I'Alaska. Bull, du Mus. 

 d' Hist. Nat., Paris. 1904, No. 5. pp. 214-217. 



