77 
upon New York Island, and laid bare in consequence of 
excavations made for the extension of streets in the upper 
part of the city. 
The following paper was read : 
The Geological Position of the Remains of Elephant and Mastodon 
in North America. 
By Dr. J. S. NEWBERRY. 
The genera Hlephas and Mastodon existed on the globe 
during the Miocene Tertiary Epoch and were represented by 
various species from that time to the advent of man. The 
question before us is, when the two species Hlephas primogene- 
us and Mastodon giganteus are first met with in ascending the 
geological scale? In Europe it is claimed that remains of 
these species are found in the true Bowlder Drift and in 
California in the Pliocene Tertiary deposits. Whether either 
of these statements is strictly true remains to be decided by 
future investigations. In central and eastern North America 
the remains of Elephant and Mastodon are found abundantly 
in Peat Bogs and other superficial and recent deposits, also 
in some strata of unconsolidated material which are consid- 
ered as belonging to the Drift, although there has been much 
difference of opinion whether these beds form part of the 
true undisturbed Drift, or whether they consist of re-arranged 
drift-materials or what is called “ Modified Drift.” The facts 
now offered, seem to prove conclusively that the remains of 
Elephant and Mastodon are found in the true and unchanged 
Drift, but only in the more recent of the Drift-deposits. 
The presence of these great mammals must therefore be 
considered as one of the incidents in the history of the Drift ; 
but as incidents belonging only to the last chapters in this 
long and somewhat eventful history. 
In order that the advent of the Elephant and Mastodon 
may be properly placed in the sequence of phenomena em- 
PROC. LYC. NAT. HIST. N. Y.—VOL. I. 6 
