FOSSIL FAUNA, 367 



PLATE LXXIV. 

 Tooth of the Mastodon. 



A MOLAR tooth of the Mastodon giganteus, from Big-bone Lick, Kentucky ; of the natural size. 



From the great number of bones and teeth of animals of the extinct elephantine genus, 

 to which the name of Mastodon was given by Cuvier (from the structure of the crowns of the 

 teeth), that have of late years been brought to England, and are dispersed in our public and 

 private collections, the intelligent reader must be familiar with the forms, characters, and gigantic 

 proportions, of that stupendous tribe of animals which once ranged through the primeval forests 

 not only of America, but also of some parts of Europe. From a perfect skeleton lately set 

 up in the British Museum (in the same room with that of the Megatherium), a correct idea may 

 be obtained of this peculiar type of mammalian structure. From this specimen it appears 

 that the great Mastodon of the Ohio was not unlike the elephant In its general outline, though 

 somewhat longer and thicker. It had a trunk or proboscis, tusks which curved upward, and 

 four molar teeth in each jaw, but no incisors. But another remarkable peculiarity, and which 

 entirely separates the Mastodon from the Elephant, is that the young animal had a pair of tusks, 

 placed horizontally in the lower jaw, and of these tusks one only became developed, and that 

 in the adult male : both were early shed in the female. In the midst of a collection of Mastodon 

 bones imbedded in mud, a mass of small branches, grass, and leaves, in a half bruised state, 

 and a species of reed common in Virginia, were discovered ; the whole appeared to have been 

 enveloped in a sac, probably the stomach of the animal. In another instance traces of the 

 proboscis were observed. The tusks are composed of ivory, and vary somewhat in the direction 

 and degree of their curvature. The bones of this colossal quadruped are found remarkably fresh 

 and well preserved, and are generally impregnated with iron. ISTo living instance of this 

 creature is on record, and there can be no doubt that its race has long since been extinct. 



" Big-bone Lick, where so many remains of the Mastodon and other extinct quadrupeds 

 have been dug up, is distant from Cincinnati about twenty-three miles in a south-west direction. 

 This celebrated bog is situated in a nearly level plain, in a valley bounded by gentle slopes, 

 which lead up to flat table-lands composed of blue argillaceous (Silurian) limestone, and marl. 

 The general course of the meandering stream which flows through the plain, is from east to 

 west. There are two springs on the southern or left bank, rising from marshes, and two on the 

 opposite bank ; the most western of wliich, called the Gum Lick, is at the point where a small 

 tributary joins the principal stream. The quaking bogs on this side are now more than fifteen 

 acres in extent ; but all the marshes were formerly larger, before the surrounding forest was 

 partially cleared away. "Within the memory of persons now living, the wild bisons or buffaloes 

 crowded to these springs ; but they have retreated many years, and are now as unknown to the 

 inhabitants as the Mastodon itself. The bog in the spots where the salt springs rise is so soft, 

 that a pole may be forced down into it many yards perpendicularly. 



