EXPLORATION IN ALASKA IN I907 — GIEMORE 31 



todon in the placer gravels of the Klondike region. Maddren 1 

 attributes this to an error. While it may have been an error in this 

 particular instance, it is likely to be a very common one, for through- 

 out this entire region all of the tusks, teeth, and big bones are usually 

 referred to by the people as those of the mastodon. 



So far as i:he writer knows, there have been no authentic cases 

 recorded of the occurrence of mastodon in Alaska. From the fact 

 that its remains do occur in the Klondike region, there appears no 

 logical reason why it should not be found in Alaskan territory as 

 well. It is on that account that the brief review is appended here. 



Through the kindness of Mr. R. G. McConnell, of the Canadian 

 Geological Survey, the writer is enabled to present a map (see plate 

 ix ) of the Klondike district on which has been indicated the local- 

 ities where mastodon and mammoth remains have been found. With 

 three exceptions, the localities indicated are based upon specimens 

 seen by the writer. 



EQUUS sp. undet. 



Scattered remains of Equus are commonly associated with the 

 other Pleistocene fossils found in Alaska. These bones have been 

 considered by various authorities as representing the extinct species 

 Equus fossilis and E. fratcmus, and by some referred to the living 

 form E. caballus. On account of the very fragmentary nature of 

 the specimens upon which these determinations have been made, in 

 all cases the identifications are open to question, and until better 

 material is found the species should be considered undeterminable. 

 Remains of horses have been found in the following localities : 

 Eschscholtz Bay, Seward Peninsula, on the Kobuk and Buckland 

 Rivers ; "Palisades," on the Yukon ; Nowitna River, Old Crow 

 River, and in many places in the Klondike district. 



BISON CRASSICORNIS Richardson 



Bison crassicornis Richardson, Zool. Voy. of H. M. S. Herald, 1852-54, 

 pp. 40-60, pis. ix, xi, fig. 6; pi. xii, figs. 1-4; pi. xiii, figs. 1-2, pi. xv, 

 figs. 1-4. 



Type. — Poorly preserved skull in the British Museum, from 

 Eschscholtz Bay, Alaska. 



Description. — "Horns long; length of horn core along upper 

 curve very much- greater than circumference at base ; horn cores 

 slightly flattened on superior face ; transverse diameter much greater 

 than vertical ; curve of horn regular, the tip not abruptly reflected 

 nor pointing decidedly backward ; horn cores raking decidedly back- 

 ward." 



'Maddren. A. G. : Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. xux, No. 1584, 1905, p. 7. 



