NATURAL HISTORY. 



15 



FOSSIL ELEPHANT. 



FOSSIL WHALE. 



These, together -with numerous cones o|":and its greatest circumfei-ence, 12 inches, 

 black spruce and white pine, in a good The circumference lias diminished very 

 state of preservation, were embedded in a i much since the tusk Avas taken from the 

 thick vegetable mucilage, nearly resem- ! muck bed, on account of shrinkage in dry- 

 bling clay in color, but which, when cut in i ing, and several longitudinal cracks have 



cakes and taken in the hand, would shake 

 and tremble like a mass of jelly. A cake 

 of this mucilage, when dried, .was much 

 lighter than cork, and was diminished to 

 about one-eighth of its original bulk. The 

 mucilage was undoubtedly produced by the 

 solution of leaves and wood, which had 

 steeped for ages in that basin of cold Avater, 



been formed in it, extending through its 

 whole length, and it was found necessary 

 to wind it Avith wire to prevent it from 

 splitting to pieces. 



These are believed to be the only fossil 

 remains ever found in New England, which 

 have been, Avitli certainty, ascertamed to 

 belong to an Elephant. Remains of Ele- 



fi-om which there was not a sufficient lioAv ! phants have been found in several of the 

 to carry it off. The billets of Avood, Avhen ; soiithern and Avestern states, and very re- 

 taken out from the bottom of the muck,{cently some fine specimens have been dug 

 appeared plump and fresh, as if they had j up in Ohio. 



been recently pealed, but were very soft, I have prefixed to this account the spe- 

 and in drying, they lost full five-sixths of cific name of the Mammoth, or fossil Ele- 

 their bulk. 1 phant of Europe, but have little doubt that 



In making the excavation for the rail- ] ours is a distinct species, and I am happy 

 road, through the muck-bed above descri- in knowmg that one of our best compara- 

 bed, in the latter part of the summer of five anatomists is now investigating this 

 1848, the Avorkmen found, at the bottom of j very subject, 

 the bed, resting upon gravel, Avliich sepa- 



rated it from the rock below, a huge tooth, 

 the place of Avhicli is indicated on the map and ! 

 ( 'Ut by 1. The depth of the muck at that , 

 [tlacew^as 11 feet. Soon after Avards, one of! 



FOSSIL WHALE. 

 Beluga vermontana. — Thompson. 

 As many rare fossils are rendered nearly 



the tusks Avas found, at 2, about 80 feet i i u ^i ^ ^ * i i 



,, , e ^\ I 4.1 V i.- valueless by the want 01 an accurate knowl- 



troni the place ot the tooth, above mention- , r ^.v • i v^- -i e i\ 



1 , . ,' • 1 c! 1 XI edse of their localities, and of the circum- 



id, Avluch Avas a grinder. teubseciuentlAN ^ ■ i • i ^i v i t i. 



ed, 



stances in Avhich they Avere found, I have 



the other tusk, and several of the bones of i , ' , , , , ,. ion i • i • 



__ ,___, '__ ^ .1 ^, i_^_ I deemed the above meDtioned fossil, Avhich IS 



the 



bridge University, Avho pronounced them j , . 



to be the remains of an extinct species ofi,, " .^ , ,. „ - i, ' i-^i i i 

 ™ 1 . nil T^- i r ii D ii 1 the introduction of a small map ot the local 

 Elephant. The Directors of the Rutland . . , „, .k,,,,,,, ,f ,„;« foin took lAlac, 



of 



portance to justify a minute 



its discovery and position, and 



and Burlington Rail Road, to Avhom they 



ity. The discovery of this fossil took place 



anu .L,u. ...s.ui. x.axx x.wa.., .u vw.v..; .. .j .^^ August, 1849. While widening an ex 

 belong, design to have them placed m .he,^_^^.»^ ^;,. ^,^^ R„ti,„H ,„,i R„^,;„<,tn, 

 Museum of the University ot Vermont, for 

 preservation, and for the illustration of our 



^^^t ^^e ^^^'e xi i. ii 1, ii 1 i which were embedded in the clay at the 



The form of the cut through the rocks i , ^, „ , ^ • i . r i. v, i xi * i 

 ,", , , ,, -x- c xi ^ I depth of about eight feet beloAV the natural 



cavation for the Rutland and Burlington 

 Rail Way, in the township of Charlotte, the 

 workmen struck upon a quantity of bones, 



and the muck, and the position of the fos- 

 sils, may be seen in the accompanying 

 section. j 2 1 4 



depi 



surface of the ground. Some of the Irish- 

 men remarked that they were the bones of 

 a dead horse buried there; but little notice, 

 however, Avas taken of them, till the over- 

 seers observed something peculiar in the 

 1. Grindei 3 On mal dm Im, rid-- 'form of several of the bones, and were, 



•2. Tusks 4 Pie-.Lnt dm lonof watti , thereby, induced to examine them more 



The grinder is in an excellent state of . carefully. It was soon found that the 

 preservation, and AVeighed 8 pounds, and | bones discovered, belonged to the anterior 

 the leno-th of its o-rinding surface is about | portion of the skeleton of some unknown 

 8 inches. The tusks ai-e someAvhat decayed, ' animal, the head of Avhich had already been 

 and one of them badly broken. The chord, j broken into fragments, by the workmen, 

 draAvn in a straight line from the base to i and many of the fragments carried away 

 the point, of the'^most perfect tusk, meas- \ Avith the earth, Avhich had Ijeen remoA'ed. 

 ures 60 inches, and the longest perpeii- ; On carefully removing more of the clay, a 

 dicular let fall from that to the inner ; number of vertebne Avcre found, extending 

 curve of the tusk, measures 19 inches. ; in a line obliquely into the bank, and, ap- 

 The k'n^th of the tusk, measured along the parently arranged in the order in Avhich 

 curve Ml the outer surface, is 80 inches, they existed in the living animal. These 



