36 Tooth of the Elephas AmericaniLS. [Jwljj 



mastodon at least fed upon the twigs and branches of trees in the 

 great mass of this matter, which was obtained -with Dr. Prime's 

 skeleton, which was discovered near Newburgh, in Orange county. 



With this skeleton, occupying the region of the stomach, sticks 

 partially broken and crushed, about two inches long, were found 

 in a mass in the midst of the bones, and in a position and rela- 

 tion which clearly indicated the fact that this mass of sticks, was 

 the undigested food of the animal itself. It is not at all remarka- 

 ble that food of this coarse nature should have constituted the 

 sustenance of the animal, when it is remembered that our moose 

 of the northern forest subsists upon food in the same condition. 

 The moose grinds and masticates limbs of the striped maple near- 

 ly as thick as the finger; so undoubtedly we should infer that the 

 elephant and mastodon fed upon small limbs of trees and matters 

 of that kind. The country must have been a forest with occa- 

 sional openings forming natural meadows; but we cannot sup- 

 pose for a moment that these huge animals could have resorted to 

 marshes for food. The dry forests were undoubtedly the fields in 

 which these animals roamed and fed. 



There is no difficulty in admitting that the mastodon or ele- 

 phant were fitted to a cold and variable climate like that of the 

 present, because the elephant of Asia is hairless, or naked. It 

 is generally known that an elephant thus provided with hair and 

 fur was found in 1799 at the mouth of the river Lena. Then 

 again animals adapt themselves to circumstances. The common 

 wolf is clothed with very short hair in this latitude during sum- 

 mer. In the colder regions of the north they are provided with 

 long thick fur and hair. 



In attempting to account for the extinction of those remarka- 

 ble animals, there is no evidence that they were destroyed by a 

 sudden catastrophe. The contrary indeed appears in this case; 

 and that in fact they died quietly and without the intervention of 

 a violent cause. We are rather inclined to regard their confor- 

 mation and bulk or massiveness, to have had some influence at 

 least in bringing about their extirpation. This, taken in connec- 

 tion with the accidents to which such bulky creatures would be 

 exposed might in time completely annihilate the race without the 

 occurrence of a violent catastrophe, as a change in climate or 

 the occurrence of a deluge. Although some geologists maintain 

 that there is evidence of a change of climate about the period 

 when the mastodons became extinct; we have never however 

 been able to see the grounds upon which such an inference could 

 be substantially based. That they lived after the diluvial period 

 is evident, inasmuch as their remains are universally above the 

 first drift, or that which is beneath the tertiary clay of the Hud- 

 son and Champlain valleys. The presence of this quiet deposit 



