364 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



the main broken up, they were somewhat widely separated. 

 This may have been due, in the opinion of Professor FeHx, 

 to the action of some stream which may have traversed 

 the pool or body of standing water in which the mammoth 

 is supposed to have come to grief.* 



The finding of the skeleton of an American mastodon in 

 Connecticut is not only highly important in itself, but the 

 position and surroundings of the remains have suggested 

 some very interesting conjectures as to the possible co- 

 existence of man and mastodon in this part of North 

 America in post-glacial times. f This find was made in 

 August, 1913, on the estate of the late A. A. Pope, at Farm- 

 ington, in the course of excavations made for the draining 

 of a bit of swamp land. The Italian workman who first 

 came across the skeleton announced his discovery to the 

 superintendent with the words that he had found "a black 

 devil" in the bog. The remains were removed with the 

 greatest possible care, although unfortunately the skull 

 had been somewhat damaged by the workman before he 

 became aware of what it was. Almost all the essential 

 parts of the skeleton were present, and one of the tusks was 

 recovered at some distance from the other remains. The 

 bones were somewhat scattered, and lay on light-blue boul- 

 der clay, a glacial ground moraine deposited during Wis- 

 consin time. It is not believed that the animal lost its 

 life from having become entangled in the bog, but that it 

 died a natural death; the appearance of the bones indicates 

 that the skeleton must have soon become buried by the 

 enveloping clay. It has been estimated that a few hundred 

 years would cover the time required for the clay to be washed 

 into the depression, and the fact that the skeleton must 



*Johamies Felix, "Das mammuth von Borna," Leipzig, 1912. 



fSee Charles Schuchert, "Mammut Americanum in Connecticut," with note by Richard 

 S. Lull. .4m. Jour. Sc. i Ser., Vol. XXXVII, pp. .S-21-S.S0. \o. iiO. April. 1914. 



