94 SKETCH or THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



don inust have possessed a proboscis, as is evident from 

 a consideration of the structure of the skull and skeleton, 

 — and indeed it would appear that this proboscis has not 

 in every instance been completely decomposed. The 

 relics of the Mastodon giganteus, or *' animal of the 

 Ohio," are found in North America, especially in saline 

 morasses, and to this circumstance Barton thinks is to be 

 attributed the occurrence of soft parts still capable of 

 being made out. In 1762 (as he states) out of five 

 skeletons which were seen by the natives, one skull still 

 possessed what they called a "long nose" with the 

 mouth under it. Kalm, speaking of a huge skeleton, 

 which, in accordance with the ideas of his time, he be- 

 lieved to be that of an elephant, and which was disco- 

 vered by the savages in the country of the Illinois, says 

 that " the form of the trunk (bee) was still apparent, 

 though half decomposed." Of the several species of 

 this extinct genus the Great Mastodon, or animal of the 

 Ohio, is the most remarkable. Its relics appear to be 

 confined to the American continent : they are distributed 

 very generally, and are accumulated in some places in 

 considerable abundance, but nowhere so much so as in 

 that saline morass popularly termed the Big-bone Lick. 

 They are found buried in the mud, and along the borders 

 of the morass, at the depth of four feet and upwards, 

 together with the bones of buffaloes, stags, &c. These 

 relics have no appearance of having been rolled, and in 

 some places, as for example along the Great Osage 

 River, they are found in a vertical position, as if the 

 animals had sunk down into the mud, which had closed 

 over them. The ferruginous matter with which the 

 bones are impregnated, says Cuvier, is the main proof 

 of their long repose in the earth. 



The traditions which were rife among the Red Men 

 concerning this gigantic animal and its destruction must 

 not be passed oyer in silence. M. Fabri, a French 

 officer, informed Buffbn that the savages regarded these 

 bones scattered in various parts of Canada and Louisiana 

 as belonging to an animal which they named the Pere 

 aux Boeufs. The Shawnee Indians believed that with 



