MAMMALIAN FOSSILS FROM DEVIL'S GULCH 181 



The word mastodon has gone beyond the limits of scientific 

 literature, and is now incorporated in our common speech. It 

 seems to be the best and most expressive single word, and yet the 

 name Gomphotherium (wedge-toothed beast) was proposed first, 

 and has the right of priority. The reader will occasionally find 

 Mammut in use by some writers, as Mammut americanum, which 

 is synonymous with Mastodon americanus. Our word mam- 

 moth is an early English corruption for Mammut. The genus 

 Mastodon must inevitably undergo many subdivisions, even though 

 the multiplication of names is confounding to the general palae- 

 ontological reader. 



MASTODONS AND MAMMOTHS IN NEBRASKA 



Mastodons in Nebraska date from the late Miocene, continued 

 through the Pliocene and Pleistocene and became extinct at the 

 close of the glacial epoch. They ranged through the United States, 

 Canada, Alaska, and Mexico. The present collections in the State 

 Museum show at least seven distinct forms, namely: Mastodon 

 zvillistoni, M. morilli, M. euhypodon, M. undetermined, M. unde- 

 termined, M. mercificus, M. americanus. It is believed that masto- 

 dons, though earlier arrivals, outlived the mammoths. 



Three species of mammoths are well known in Nebraska, 

 namely : Elephas imp er at or, E. columbi, and E. primigenius. The 

 most majestic of them all, Elephas imperator, the giant imperial 

 elephant, with a height exceeding 13 feet, ranged from Nebraska 

 westward to the Pacific, and southward to Mexico, during Pleisto- 

 cene times. The next largest, Elephas columbi, the great Co- 

 lumbian elephant, with a height of 10 to n feet, followed in the 

 middle Pleistocene, and ranged over the entire United States and 

 Mexico. These two mammoths had a southern adaptation. They 

 were followed by a mammoth of a northern adaptation known as 

 the great northern, or hairy mammoth, Elephas primigenius, which 

 had a height of 9 feet. This is the mammoth best known to 

 the public. Its range was west, extending from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific, along the northern part of the United States, through- 

 out British Columbia, and over Alaska. Proboscideans attained 

 ponderous size at a surprisingly early period, especially in Europe. 



