MASTODON REMAINS IN NOVA SCOTIA. PIERS. 167 



Baddeck, told me some years ago, that according to his recol- 

 lection the date would be approximately about 1836. 



Donor's name. From Alexander McRae the specimen 

 passed to Peter Hall Clarke of Sydney, afterwards (1844) a 

 member of the legislative council, who presented it to the then 

 recently organized Halifax Mechanics' Institute in whose 

 museum it remained until it was transferred to the Provincial 

 Museum of Xova Scotia on the latter's foundation in October, 

 1868, where it is still preserved. 



Geological age. This bone may be fairly safely assigned 

 to the very close of the Pleistocene (or Glacial) epoch or the 

 opening of the Recent (or Post-glacial) epoch. The underly- 

 ing formation is carboniferous limestone. 



Dawson in the first edition of Acadian Geology (1855) 

 speaks of its having been found in superficial gravel, and says 

 it probably belonged to the close of the glacial or drift period, 

 and that the species was probably extict here before the intro- 

 duction of man. Honeyman in his Giants and Pigmies (1887), 

 pp. 87-89, states that he had hitherto held the opinion "that it 

 was of post-glacial age, that it was contemporary with the 

 American mammoth, both being of Pleistocene age and of the 

 Chaniplain period/' but on certain geological considerations 

 he says he has now been led to regard it "as contemporary with 

 the Europeans." Does he mean the European mastodons ? 

 Dawson in his Handbook of Geology (1889), p. 157, very 

 slightly modifies his earlier view, and refers it to the post- 

 glacial or late glacial age, "possibly" extinct before the intro- 

 duction of man, though he rightly notes that the Micmac 

 Indians seem to have had traditions of its existence. 



Remarks. Honeyman (Giants and Pigmies) says the dis- 

 covery of this bone caused considerable excitement, and that 

 Admiral Dundonald (who was on this station from 1848 to. 

 1851) and Dr. Abraham Gesner visited and explored the spot 

 with the expectation of making further discoveries of remains, 



