'/'//< Life of Yesterday 



probable, and it is more likely that the an- 

 cestors of the Mastodon were immigrants from 

 Asia. There is a wide gap between its habitat 

 here and that of the nearest foreign relative, 

 but then little is known of the fossils of Alaska 

 and Siberia. 



But it may be said that specimens from 

 California and Oregon seem to be found in 

 beds of gravel of more ancient date than the 

 swamps and meadows where similar remains 

 occur in the East. It therefore seems likely 

 that the Mastodon, like the Mammoth spread 

 southward and eastward from some point in 

 the Northwest. It ranged practically over the 

 entire United States west of the Hudson, and 

 extended its habitat north of the Great Lakes 

 into Canada. Specimens have been found in 

 New Brunswick, Manitoba, and on the shores 

 of Hudson Bay, but these may be looked upon 

 as stragglers, or as having been transported 

 by exceptional circumstances. 



In most parts of its range the Mastodon 

 must have been abundant, though few realize 

 this. But it is hardly an exaggeration to say 

 265 



