Fossil Remains of the Mastodon, fyc. 321 



able bones of Mastodon, elephant, and other extinct quadrupeds, which 

 must have visited these springs when the valley was in its present geo- 

 graphical conditon in almost every particular, and which must have been 

 mired in them as existing quadrupeds are at present. The Mastodon re- 

 mains are most numerous and belong to individuals of all ages. The 

 mud is very deep, black, and soft. In places it is seen to rest upon the 

 limestone, and at some points it swells up to the height of several feet 

 above the general level of the plain and of the river. It is occasionally 

 covered by a deposit of yellow clay or loam, resembling the silt of the 

 Ohio, which is from ten to twenty feet thick, rising to that height above 

 the creek and often terminating abruptly at its edges. This loam has 

 all the appearance of having been deposited tranquilly on the surface of 

 the morass and of having afterwards suffered denudation. The Masto- 

 don and other quadrupeds have been mired before the deposition of the 

 incumbent silt, for a considerable number of fossil bones have been 

 found by digging through it. Accompanying the bones are fresh-water 

 and land shells, most of which have been identified by Mr. Anthony 

 with species now existing in the same region. 



Mr. Lyell observes that the surface of the bog is extremely uneven, 

 and accounts for it partly by the unequal distribution of the incumbent 

 alluvium, which presses with a heavy weight on certain parts of the mo- 

 rass, from which other portions of the surface are entirely free. He 

 also attributes it in part to the swelling of the bog where it is fully satu- 

 rated with vvater near the springs. 



The author is of opinion that the fossil remains of Bigbone Lick are 

 much more modern than the deposition of the drift, which is not present 

 in this district. But although the date of the imbedding of these mam- 

 malian fossil remains is so extremely modern, considered geologically, 

 it is impossible to say how many thousand years may not have elapsed 

 since the Mastodon and other lost species became extinct. They have 

 been found at the depth of several feet from the surface, but we have 

 no data for estimating the rate at which the boggy ground has increased 

 in height, nor do we know how often during floods its upper portion has 

 been swept away. 



Ohio. — The Ohio River immediately above and below Cincinnati is 

 bounded on its right bank by two terraces consisting of sand, gravel and 

 loam, the lower terrace consisting of beds supposed to be much newer 

 than those of the upper. In the gravelly beds of the higher terrace, 

 teeth both of the Mastodon and elephant have been met with. Mr. Lyell 

 was assured that a boulder of gneiss, twelve feet in diameter, was found 

 resting on the upper terrace, about four miles north of Cincinnati, and 

 that some fragments of granite had been found in a similar situation at 



Vol. xlyi, No. 2.— Jan .-March, 1844. 41 



