80 ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 



The complete list of mammals is as follows : 



Mammoth (Elephas primi- Extinct musk ox (Symbos- 



genius). tyrelli). 



Mastodon (Mastodon ameri- Bison (Bison crassicornis). 



canus). (Bison occidentalis). 



Horse (Equus sp.). ,, (Bison alleni). 



Moose (Alces sp.). Sheep (Ovis sp.). 



Reindeer (Rangifer sp.). Bear (Ursus sp.). 



Musk ox (Ovibos sp.). Beaver (Castor sp.) 



The results of these two expeditions excited so much interest 

 in the United States that another was sent out to Alaska by 

 the American Museum of Natural History under Mr. 

 Quackenbush.* He was fortunate enough in discovering part 

 of a mammoth skeleton which still retained the flesh, skin 

 and hair similar to those found in northern Siberia. This 

 discovery is of particular interest, as it elucidates an extremely 

 important feature connected with the preservation of the soft 

 parts of mammoths in Siberia. It has been .stated that the 

 preservation of the bodies of mammoths is due to their being 

 embedded in underground ice. Mr. Gilmore informs us that 

 fossils in Alaska have never been found in pure ice masses. 

 On the contrary, he makes it quite clear that the flesh, skin 

 and hair of the mammoth were preserved to the present time 

 because they had been pressed down into the soft mud by the 

 weight of the rest of the body. All that remained exposed 

 of the body rotted away. The author agrees with the previous 

 writers in considering the mammoth and the mammalian re- 

 mains as Pleistocene. He argues that the climate of this 

 period must have been somewhat milder than that of the 

 present time, because large trees had been met with associated 

 with these mammalian remains in regions which are now tree- 

 less. He also adds Bootherium bombifrons, the wapiti deer 

 and the wolf to the Pleistocene species already known from 

 the Yukon territory of Canada. 



From these three most valuable reports we can gather cer- 

 tain remarkable facts which are apparently antagonistic to 



* Quackenbush, L. S., "Alaskan Mammoth Expeditions," pp. 125 

 127. 



