170 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1391 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE TEMPLE HILL (ORANGE COUNTY, N. Y.) 

 MASTODON 



The 101st separate record of mastodon re- 

 mains in the state of ISTew York and the 31st 

 record for Orange County, have been made 

 by the recent discovery of an almost complete 

 skeleton on the muck lands near Temple Hill 

 about three quarters of a mile northwest of 

 Vail's Gate Junction. The discovery is of 

 exceptional interest. Next to the Warren 

 Mastodon which stands in the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, the Temple Hill 

 skeleton follows in order of completeness, all 

 bones being present except a part of the 

 cranium and a few of the ribs. While the 

 skeleton appears to be somewhat larger than 

 that of the Cohoes Mastodon in the New York 

 State Museum, it is evident that the bones 

 are those of a young animal, as the epiphyses 

 are free and there is a full set of four inter- 

 mediate molars in addition to the complete 

 permanent molars, making in all 12 teeth in 

 both jaws. The animal was found lying on 

 its side with a quantity of triturated plant 

 remains, apparently tamarack, lying between 

 the ribs, evidently the creature's last meal. 

 The skeleton was discovered about the 10th 

 of June and was immediately acquired for 

 the State Museum through the generosity of 

 an appreciative friend. 



The Mastodon was the most conspicuous 

 member the mammal fauna of New York ever 

 had, and it is perhaps of special interest to 

 again note, with this occasion, the great 

 abundance of these creatures in the state dur- 

 ing the time of the recession of the post- 

 glacial waters, especially over the swampy 

 highlands before the land had settled down 

 to its present altitude. After all the disturb- 

 ances to which the soil of New York and its 

 contents have been subjected, the wasting by 

 the weather and the various other agencies 

 attacking and destroying the integrity of such 

 remains, the abundance of the recorded dis- 

 coveries of mastodon bones in the state can 

 only be interpreted as indicating the fact that 

 in their heyday these animals were as abun- 

 dant here as the buffalo were on the plains 



75 years ago; and it is also a fact worthy of 

 consideration by those giving attention to soil 

 changes, that of all these 101 recorded skele- 

 tons but two or three have been preserved in 

 anything approaching entirety. 



Sherman 0. Bishop 

 New York State Museum, 

 July 6, 1921 



A MORE PHENOMENAL SHOOT 



The July 1, number of Science records a 

 " phenomenal shoot " which grew near Ra- 

 leigh, N. C. This shoot grew from the stump 

 of a beheaded tree of Paulownia tomentosa 

 in one season to the length of 19 feet 5 inches; 

 had twenty internodes, and was Y.75 inches 

 in circumference at the base. This shoot is 

 thought by Mr. Wells to be " a record for the 

 tree type of woody plant in the temperate 

 zone." 



During the past season the writer kept track 

 of a shoot which grew from stump of a be- 

 headed tree of Paulownia tomentosa. This 

 shoot grew during the season of 1920 to a 

 length of 21 feet 6 inches, it has twenty-four 

 internodes and is ten inches in circumference 

 at the base. One of the leaves, measured in 

 the latter part of July, was 38 inches in 

 largest dimension. This shoot grew in clay 

 loam soil residual from granite on property 

 adjoining the campus of the University of 

 North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. The shoot 

 is on exibition in the Geological Museum of 

 the University. 



W. F. Prouty 



Chapel Hill, N. C. 



A PHYTOPHTHORA parasitic ON PEONY 



Early in May the writers received from 

 Mrs. George Ray, of Erie, Pa., some blighted 

 peonies. Since the cause of the trouble was 

 not at once apparent, cultures were attempted 

 from the diseased portions. These yielded 

 at once a pure growth of Phytophthora. As 

 the writers are not aware of any previous re- 

 port of a Phytophthora as a parasite on this 

 host, a brief description of the disease and the 

 causal organism is here made a matter of 

 record, pending further investigation. 



