277 



The Kandolph Mastodon. Bv Prof. Jos. Moore. 



The genus Mastodon, belonging to the elephant family, began as far back in 

 time as the miooene, or middle tertiary, and continued into the earlier centuries 

 of the present epoch. First and last there have been as many as twenty known 

 species, distributed about as follows: Europe nine, Asia five, N. America four, 

 S. America two. Remains have been found in Australia which have been claimed 

 for Mastodon, but naturalists are waiting for the claim to be better substantiated. 



The species known to N. America are, M. Americanus (same as M. giganteus 

 or 31. ohioticus), M. obscurus, M. produxtus and M. murijiciis. The only species 

 found in Indiana or adjoining states, so far as I have learned, is M. Americanus. 

 That this majestic creature once trod our wilds in prehistoric times, roaming in 

 herds from Canada to the Gulf, feeding on the prairies, in the forest jungles and 

 on the banks of lakes and streams, often getting helplessly and fatally mired in 

 our bogs — that it did all this and more seems to be quite satisfactorily evident. 



They must have been crowded slowly southward before the great ice sheet, 

 and afterwards followed the retreat of the same northward that they might pos- 

 sess the land in company with the Mammoth and other great beasts during the 

 champlain and terrace epochs and into the beginning of the present. 



It is a common thing to find Mastodon remains. Hardly a week passes but 

 that some paper near or far reports a find. Often it is a false report, but probably 

 oftener it has some foundation in fact, even if the discovery be but a grinder or 

 part of a tusk. 



People say they never lived in herds here for thousands of years, or with all 

 the digging for wells, sewers, cellars, railroads and hundreds of other things, we 

 would be finding remains every few hours. There were millions of horses in 

 Indiana previous to, say, 1860. Now send out a company of explorers to find 

 skeletons of horses that died previous to said year and see how many they will 

 bring in. But it is far from common to find the skeleton of a Mastodon that is 

 approximately complete, and rarer still to find such an one which, on drying, 

 does not crumble to bits. 



Near twenty years since a farmer struck some very large bones and a tusk two 

 or three miles from New Paris, Ohio. A number of the bones were well preserved. 

 A tusk was taken out, entire, which measured near eleven feet in length and ten 

 inches in diameter at base. Such a tusk would seem to indicate a powerful male 

 of full age. On drying, for want of proper treatment, this majestic specimen went 

 to crumbs and splinters, except three and a half feet of the outer end. The other 

 remains consisted of a pair of grinders, half a dozen vertebrie, more than a dozen 

 19 



