362 Bevieivs — A New Siberian Mammoth. 



rate give opportunities for exact observations on a carcase in the 

 tundra, even if the deca^/ing mass could not be transported to 

 a museum. The official report of the expedition published last 

 year by its leader, Dr. Herz, showed that the most sanguine 

 expectations of the Academy had been fulfilled. The great carcase 

 was successfully unearthed and photographed at various stages of 

 the work ; the remains were packed with special care and speedily 

 transported to St. Petersburg ; and on reaching the Zoological 

 Museum the material was found to have arrived in so satisfactory 

 a state that it was not only good enough for scientific study but 

 could also be mounted for public exhibition. The mounting has 

 just been completed under the direction of Dr. Salensky, and the 

 specimen is now one of the most remarkable objects of natural 

 history in Europe. The animal is a young male of rather small 

 size. The skeleton has been removed from the skin and surrounding 

 soft parts, and fixed up separately on a wooden pedestal. The skin 

 has actually been softened, prepared, and stuffed by a taxidermist,, 

 just like a modern skin ; and some of its deficiencies have been 

 hidden by mounting it in the attitude of death surrounded by the 

 morass in which it made its final struggle. The skin of the head 

 and ears is restored, copied from the specimen discovered and 

 brought back by Adams a century ago. The proboscis, so far a& 

 shown, is also artificial. Some patches of wool and hair from other 

 specimens have been added to cover bare places. Otherwise it is 

 a genuine specimen. 



Like most other carcases which have been reported, this new 

 Mammoth was found nearly in the latitude of the Arctic Circle. It 

 was disclosed by a landslip on the banks of the Beresowka^ 

 a tributary of the Kolyma, in the province of Jakutsk. The head 

 was naturally exposed, and its soft parts were thus destroyed and 

 eaten by the foxes and other carnivorous animals. The rest of the 

 specimen, thanks to the intervention of the Governor of Jakutsk, 

 was kept covered and intact until the arrival of the Academy's 

 expedition. After surmounting some preliminary difficulties. 

 Dr. Herz began to excavate backwards from the head. He first 

 uncovered the two fore limbs, which were found in the remarkable- 

 sprawling attitude shown in his photograph (here reproduced in 

 PI. XYIII). Both were bent at the wrist, and clearly showed that 

 the animal had fallen into a hole and was trying to escape. The 

 bind limbs were then found bent completely forward beneath the 

 body. The tongue, which was beautifully preserved, was observed 

 to be hanging out of the mouth ; and the cavity of the chest was 

 filled with clotted blood. It may therefore be concluded that the 

 animal was entrapped, and died from the bursting of a blood-vessel 

 near the heart in its efforts to extricate itself 



A still more interesting fact was noted by Dr. Herz, namely, that 

 the mouth was filled with grass which had been cropped but not 

 chewed and swallowed. Death appears thus to have been quite 

 sudden. The stomach was also well filled with grass, and contained 

 no other kind of food. Dr. Herz therefore suggests that the 



