314; Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



any thing else, I will not attempt to determine ; possibly this power 

 may be owing to different causes in different kinds of snakes. But 

 so far as the black snake is concerned, it seems to be nothing more 

 than an enticement or allurement with which the snake is endowed 



to procure his food. 



In the month of June, 1823, in company with a friend, I had 

 just crossed the Hudson river, from the town of Catskill, and was 

 proceeding in a carriage, by the river, along the road, which is here 

 very narrow, witli the water on one side and a steep bank covered 

 with bushes on the other. Our attention was in this place arrested 

 by a number of small birds, of different species, flying across the 

 road and then back again, and turning and wheeling in manifold 

 gyrations, and with much chirping, yet making no progress from 

 the particular place over which they fluttered. We were not left 

 long in doubt, when we observed a black snake of considerable size, 

 l)artly coiled and partly erect from the ground, with the appearance 

 of great animation, his eyes brilliant, and his tongue rapidly and 

 incessantly brandished. This reptile we perceived to be the cause 

 and the centre of the wild motions of the birds, which ceased, as 

 soon as the snake, alarmed by the approach of the carriage, retired 

 into the bushes; the birds, however, alighted upon the neighbouring 

 branches, probably awaiting the re-appearance of their tormentor 

 and enemy. Our engagements did not permit us to wait to see the 

 issue of this affair, which seems to have been similar to that observed 

 by Mr. Nash. — American Editor.— Silliman's Journal, June 1827. 



FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE MASTODON LATELY FOUND IN ON- 

 TARIO COUNTY, NEW-YORK. 



In repairing and cleansing the village spring, and the ditches con- 

 nected with it, which are dug in marl that extends two feet below 

 the surface, it was deemed proper to deepen them ; and in doing this 

 the bones were found — about half a mile east of the court-house at 

 Genes.-eo, in a small marsh, that has some elevation above the sur- 

 rounding country. 



The tusks were first seen, and then the head, but these, as indeed 

 the whole skeleton, were in such a state of almost total decomposi- 

 tion, as to defy ail attempts at preservation The skeleton lay in 

 the direction so frequently observed in the remains of this animal, 

 South West and North East. The head rested upon the lower jaw. 

 The tusks were much decayed; their points were five feet apart, 

 and curved at least a foot from the centre. They were four feet 

 and two inches in length ; the largest diameter could not be ascer- 

 tained on account of their decay — but it was preserved a consider- 

 able distance and then gradually diminished, so that at five inches 

 from the point the diameter was three inches. The laminated 

 structure of the tusk was rendered evident by decomposition, which 

 had in a measure separated the laminae, and the whole was supposed 

 to be phosphate of lime. 



Of the two (superior) incisors, no trace could be discovered, but 

 the eight molars were in situ. The length of the largest tooth 



was 



