98 WlSCOJs'SI^f ACADEMY SCIENCES^ AETS, AHD LETTERS. 



soutiiwest quarter of section 68, in the town of Dover, Racine county, 

 Wis., on the 12th day of November, 1874. These remains were 

 exhumed by F. Wells and F. S. Perkins, of Burlington. I am in- 

 debted to Mr. Perkins for a minute account of the soil and condi- 

 tion in which the bones were found. They excavated a piece of 

 ground 15x20 feet, to the depth of four feet from the surface. They 

 passed through first fifteen inches of peat, then through a bed of 

 yellowish sand quite compact and hard, of a uniform thickness of 

 six inches, Below this stratum of sand is a bed of light-colored de- 

 posit, of sticky clay, intermingled with fine sand, all of which was 

 of the consistency of soft putty. The depth of this deposit was not 

 ascertained, as they could not reach bottom with an iron rod ten 

 feet in length. 



The most superficial of these bones was found only six inches be- 

 low the sand — twent3'-seven inches from the top af the peat. 



The greatest depth at which any were found was four feet from 

 the surface. They procured many fragments of broken ribs, sev- 

 eral vertebrae, the right scapula, a fibula and two tusks. All the 

 bones were much decayed, and of little value. However, by the ex- 

 ercise of great care and skill, one of the tusl^s was taken out and so 

 prepared, that it is now the most perfect specimen I ever saw. 

 There is not a fraction wanting. Even the sharp edge of that por- 

 tion entering the socket in the jaw is complete. 



This tusk is four feet eight inches in length and fifteen inches in 

 circumference. No teeth were found. All the lower bones were 

 found in great disorder; the tusks were separated ten feet apart, and 

 each resting on fragments of ribs. 



The peat-swamp, in which the bones were found, is 200 feet wide, 

 by 800 long, surrounded by high ground with the exception of a 

 narrow outlet. This marsh was undoubtedly once a small lake, 

 now filled with the wash from the adjacent elevated grounds. 



The scattered condition in which the bones were found may be 

 accounted for by the agency of ice. The water freezing to the bot- 

 tom would include the skeleton. Then when the ice broke up it 

 would transport the boues to various parts of the lake. Possibl)^, 

 however, animals, or even man, have had to do with separating the 

 various parts of the skeleton. 



