174 MASTODON REMAINS IN NOVA SCOTIA. — PIERS. 



district to be parts of a whale's backbone, and they were used 

 as little stools to sit on. These have long ago disappeared, and 

 the present Homes know nothing of them. What particularly 

 puzzled the Indian was, how 'Svhale bones" could get to such 

 inland places as the two just mentioned. 



I have never seen these so-called whale bones, but one 

 naturally ventures the opinion that possibly they may have 

 been Mastodon remains, and that those traversing our waste- 

 lands, as well as those cultivating surface deposits, should 

 keep a sharp look-out for any such large bones, particularly at 

 a distance from the sea, and should any be discovered some 

 authority's oj^inion as to their identity should by all means be 

 obtained. 



A supposed Mastodon's skull was recently found on the 

 shore of the Bras d'Or lake and was forwarded to the museum 

 of the Provincial ISTormal College at Truro. This immediately 

 aroused interest, but on examining photographs of it, I identi- 

 fied it as the cranium of a cetacean, the Black Fish 

 ( Glohicephalus melas) . 



Halifax, N. S., 



13th May, 1912. ; 



