6 Smithsonian Exploration in Alaska in 1904 



the diffidence and reserve with which doubtful facts involving any 

 generalization ought always to be expressed. 



The problems of geographic distribution of the animal and vege- 

 table life of North America in Pleistocene time with the disturbance 

 of faunas and floras caused by the widespread glaciation during that 

 period and their subsequent readjustment over the glaciated area, 

 all combine to form a complex arrangement, to solve which will 

 require large collections of specimens from the Pleistocene deposits 

 of. the unglaciated area of Alaska and the adjacent Canadian terri- 

 tory. For at present our knowledge of this fauna and flora is very 

 limited. As far as we know, only one species of elephant (Elephas 

 primigenins) , the Mammoth, inhabited Alaska and Siberia during 

 Pleistocene time. 



In 1850 Dr. C. C. A. Grewingk ^ brought together all the records 

 then known of the occurrence of Mammoth remains in Alaska. 

 On pages 290 and 291 of the 1850 edition of his work he summarizes 

 this information. On pages 78 and 79 he gives a review of the dis- 

 covery of Mammoth remains on Eschscholtz Bay by Kotzebue in 

 1816, and on pages 81, 82, and 83 presents the results of Beechey's 

 expedition to that locality in 1826. He refers the elephant remains 

 enumerated by Buckland to Elephas primigcnius and doubtfully to 

 Elephas indicus. 



He continues : " Mastodon ribs, tibia, and tusks of Elephas primi- 

 genins and E. indicus ( ?) were collected by Wossnessenski from 

 Cape Nugvulinuk (near Tolstoi Point), Norton Sound." 



" Mastodon bones and tusks are common along the coast between 

 Bristol Bay and Norton Sound (see Veniaminofif, Notes on the 

 Unalaska District, St. Petersburg, 1840, p. 105) ; furthermore they 

 have been found on the Pribilof Islands, and lastly also on Unalaska 

 (Island) according to Dr. Stein." 



On page 68 he says : " On a stream having the same name as 

 this cove (apparently Golsova river of present maps, Topanika 

 Creek of Dall) were found in alluvial deposits of clays and sands, 

 the ribs, tibia, and tusks of Mastodon which were collected by 

 Wossnessenski in 1843 and sent to the Academy of Sciences (at 

 St. Petersburg)." 



" These specimens appear to resemble the living elephant more 

 closely than they stand to the mammoth." 



^ Beitrag zur Kenntniss der orographischen und geognostischen Beschafifen- 

 heit der Nord-West Kiiste Amerikas mit den anliegenden Inseln. Verhandl. 

 Russ. k. mineral. Gesell. zu St. Petersburg, 1848, 1849, also separates, 1850. 



