298 GEOLOGY. 



are found only on the North American continent, and 

 are very abundant in some parts, especially in a saline 

 morass in Kentucky called the Big Bone Lick. There 

 is a tradition prevailing among the Indians that there 

 existed men of gigantic stature at the same time with 

 the colossal animals to which these bones belonged, and 

 that both were destroyed by the thunderbolts of the 

 Great Being ; but this, like many other traditions, is un- 

 founded, for no bones of man have been found in connec- 

 tion with those of the mastodons. There have been five 

 entire skeletons of this animal dug up in this country. 

 The best one was obtained from a marsh near Newburg, 

 New York, and was set up by Dr. Warren, in Boston. 

 When found, its posture was such as we would expect 

 an animal to have that sunk in mire. Remains of its 

 last meal, lying between its ribs, showed that it lived, in 

 part at least, on spruce and fir-trees. The skeleton is 11 

 feet high, and its length to the beginning of the tail is 

 17 feet. The tusks are 12 feet long, over two feet of 

 them being imbedded in the bone of the skull. 



Remains of a mastodon of a different species from the 

 North American one have been found in South America. 



409. Mylodon. In the pampean or prairie formation 

 of South America, and in the caves of Brazil, have been 

 found the remains of certain huge animals allied to the 

 existing Sloth family. There are only three species of 

 this family at the present time, and they are of moderate 

 size ; but of the monsters that belonged to it in the Post- 

 tertiary age there are many species. Of the three spe- 

 cies of one genus, Mylodon, the skeleton of one, Mylodon 

 robustus, is represented in Fig. 175. The sloths of the 

 present day live in the trees of dense forests, the foliage 

 being their food. The sloths of the olden time lived on 

 the same kind of food, as is shown by their teeth ; but 

 they were too heavy to climb, and they obtained the fo- 

 liage by breaking down or uprooting trees. In doing 

 this, the Mylodon put itself, probably, in the attitude rep- 



