Geological Survey of the State of Ohio. 359 



" This tusk weighed, when taken from the earth, 180 lbs. The weight 

 of the largest tooth is 8^ lbs. 



" These bones vyere dug from the bank of a creek, near the water, 

 where they were found under a superincumbent mass of stratified mate- 

 rials, fifteen to eighteen feet in thickness." pp. 96, 97. 



The place where these bones occur is evidently a lacustrine 

 deposit, consisting of horizontal layers of sand, loam and marly 

 clay. The layer in which the bones occurred is dark blue, colored 

 by phosphate of iron. The tusk in many places was tinged with 

 this substance. This may serve as a general section of the de- 

 posits, in which these bones are found at the west, and corres- 

 ponds, except in the absence of the peat, with a section given by 

 Phillips of the lacustrine deposits of Yorkshire, in which the 

 great Irish Elk [Cervus giganteus) is found. Whether these de- 

 posits belong to the newer pliocene of Lyell we are not prepared to 

 say. We have not yet facts enough upon the subject. In Eu- 

 rope, the age of these deposits, can, in general, be readily recog- 

 nized by the accompanying marine shells. Here so far as we 

 have observed, there is an absence of marine as well as fresh 

 water shells. That the bones above described, were floated to 

 the place where they were found, is probable from their horizontal 

 position, and the stratified deposits, with which they were cov- 

 ered ; but not previously subjected to a considerable degree of 

 violence, as intimated by Briggs. The jaw bone was fractured. 

 As that was found on the surface, after a freshet, it is not unrea- 

 sonable to suppose that its fracture was recent. The bones of 

 the cranium also, were broken ; this we might expect would be 

 the case from the very frailty of their structure, without suppos- 

 ing that they had been subjected to violence. We see nothing 

 in this region, which would indicate a cataclysm of sufficient 

 power to excavate valleys, pile up deep, beds of gravel, &c. ; 

 while the deposits, in which these bones were entombed, appear 

 to have been formed in still waters. This, we infer from the 

 horizontality of the layers, and the comminuted slate of the ma- 

 terials composing them. Besides, we find these bones in such 

 a position as to induce us to believe that the carcass might have 

 been drifted entire, into this lake or estuary. 



The gases generated by putrefaction would cause it to rise to 

 the surface ; and as the process advanced, the bones would fall 

 piecemeal from the floating carcass, and in that case, be scattered 



