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NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 199 



FIG. 23. 



lost or shed while the animal was living. The figure is de 

 signed to show the arrangement of the enamel plates. 



Bones of this immense quadruped have been found at 

 numerous places. A large number were found in a marl pit 

 near Goldsboro , and a large back molar in another marl pit 

 in Nash. These bones are usually broken, and the pieces 

 are rarely more than from three to six inches long. A cunei 

 form bone of the foot was found in a marl bed upon the 

 Cape Fear. From the number of bones which have been 

 found it is evident this large species of land quadruped, the 

 largest known, must have been very numerous at one time. 

 Its bones are associated with fossils, many of which are now 

 extinct, and some or even many still survive. The oldest de 

 posit in which the bones of the mastodon are known to occur 

 is probably the miocene. They continued to occur in the 

 subsequent formations until the latest, which just precede 

 the advent of man ; and, indeed, it is not at all improbable 

 that man witnessed the final extinction of the race. The 

 long bones w r hich I have examined always contain animal 

 matter, an evidence of their recent death. 



The elephant was also a cotemporary with the mastodon. 

 No teeth, however, have yet been found in North-Carolina 

 which may have enabled me to identify its remains. But to 

 those who have marl beds to identify its remains, a tooth (Fig. 

 24:) of this interesting animal is given in the margin. It is a re 

 duced figure of one found in the superficial deposits of New 



