144 Skeleton of the Mastodon. 



ally on its western side into a marsh, now cleared of its forests 

 and intersected by ditches, so that it is at certain seasons nearly 

 dry. Formerly it is said to have been very watery, and to have 

 abounded with a species of poplar, whence the farm derived 

 its name. Not far from the border of this marsh, we found a 

 shallow excavation with a little water standing in the pit where 

 the left fore-leg had been taken, and perceived several broken 

 vertebrae and fragments of other bones lying scattered and 

 bleaching on the surrounding turf. Here, with the permission 

 of the owner of the land, we immediately began to explore, 

 and, in the course of that and the following day, succeeded in 

 procuring, with the assistance of some gentlemen who had ac- 

 companied us, all the remainder of the bones that were still 

 undecomposed. These we have now the pleasure to present 

 to the Society. Together with those first taken up by Mr. 

 Croxson, and of which he has recently, with great liberality, 

 made a donation to our cabinet, they comprise nearly one en- 

 tire skeleton. Possessing already, through the enterprise, of 

 two of our associates, part of another skeleton from Chester, 

 in this State, in which are several important bones wanting in 

 that from New- Jersey, particularly the lower jaw, the col- 

 lection of the Lyceum now affords unusual facilities for study- 

 ing the osteology of this great quadruped. 



The researches of Cuvier, in collecting all that was known 

 relative to the great Mastodon, and in digesting these materials 

 into one connected history, enriched as it is with his own in- 

 valuable remarks, have left little for future observers to add. 

 The only important part of the skeleton which has never been 

 described, is the upper part of the cranium. All attempts to 

 procure this entire have hitherto proved fruitless, nor did we 

 experience better fortune in this respect than former adventu- 

 rers. It would, therefore, be unnecessary on the present occa- 

 sion to enter into anatomical details ; but it will not be con- 

 sidered useless or unimportant to note the posture in which 



