On Elephantine Bones. 27 



The salt-licks, or marshes, in which so many of the 

 bones of the Mammoth have been found, seem very well 

 adapted for the preservation of both the hard and soft 

 parts of animal bodies. Some of these licks are muria- 

 tic marshes, or marshes impregnated with muriate of so- 

 da, and even at this day abound in Salicornia, Glaux, 

 Triglochin, and other plants, which are rarely found at 

 any great distance from such saline soils, which in Ame- 

 rica, as in other countries, doubtless, owe their origin to 

 the sea. Other North- American salt-licks seem more 

 impregnated with sulphate of magnesia, or epsom, than 

 with muriatic, salt ; while others of them, again, are very 

 sensibly impregnated with sulphate of alumine, or with 

 sulphate of iron. Lastly, some of the licks seem 

 to be very little different from your sphagnum moras- 

 ses in Europe, in some of which, it is well known to 

 3-011, that the bones of a species of Cervus (allied to the 

 Alces), and those of other animals, have been preserved, 

 for a very great length of time. (See Note 1, at the end 

 of this article). You will observe, Sir, that the Wythe 

 exuviae, recently discovered, were found " near a salt- 

 lick ;" and it is probable, that when we shall receive a 

 more circumstantial account of the discovery, it will 

 clearly appear, that the stomach, bones, Sec, were ex- 

 posed to the influence of the saline impregnation ; and 

 that it is to this that we are, in a considerable degree, 

 indebted for their preservation : a preservation so preci- 

 ous to the lovers of Natural History. 



We shall never, perhaps, be certain at what period the 

 species of the Mammoth ceased to exist in America. 

 We may, however, I think, confidently assert, that se- 



