Collection of Fossil Bones. 371 



may be found to belong to the Fossil Elephant. The mutilated con- 

 dition of some renders it extremely difficult to pronounce with cer- 

 tainty upon a slight examination. 



The remains of the fossil Elephant comprised in this Collection, 

 are next in interest and number to those of the Mastodon. 



The first that we shall notice is a head of a young individual, more 

 complete than any known to your committee, to have been obtain- 

 ed in North America. It consists of the upper and lower maxillary 

 bones, with six molar teeth in good preservation. Isolated grinders 

 have been discovered in the United States in numerous instances, 

 but generally without any portion of bone adhering to them. There 

 are also of the Elephant, in this collection, several other large frag- 

 ments of jaws, and twenty separate molar teeth. 



Of the Horse, there are perfect teeth, and other portions, found 

 under circumstances that favor the belief of their being of equal an- 

 tiquity with the extinct animals whose remajns are associated with 

 them in the Collection. The teeth are remarkably large and sound. 



Of Ruminating animals, there are skulls and some other parts of 

 the Buffalo, Bos Americanus ; of the extinct species named by Dr. 

 Harlan, Bos hombijrons, and of a large species of Cervus, resem- 

 bling C. Alces. 



Finally, we .have also discovered among these interesting relics 

 some considerable portions of the Megalonyx, whose osteology is 

 still so imperfectly known. The most important of these is a right 

 lower maxillary bone, with four teeth in the sockets, and another de- 

 tached tooth which appears to have come from the upper jaw. 

 There is also the tibia of the right leg, and perhaps some other bones 

 which may prove to belong to the same animal. 



Remarks by the Editor. — Having (since the above account was 

 received) seen the collection of bones so accurately described above, 

 I cannot refrain from attempting to convey to others something of the 

 impression made upon my own mind on entering the room contain- 

 ing this astonishing assemblage of bones, many of which are of gi- 

 gantic size. They produce in the beholder the strongest conviction 

 that races of animals formerly existed on this continent, not only 

 of vast magnitude, but which must also have been very numerous ; 

 and the Mastodon, at least, ranged in herds, over probably the 

 entire American continents. 



It is stated by the person who exhibits this collection, that the 

 skull, and the tusks which it contains, weigh upwards of five hundred 

 pounds ; that a pair of tusks now lying in the room, and supposed to 



