230 ELEPHAS COLUMBI. 



assumed to belong to an unnamed species, from the fact that 

 it was found in association with a fauna very distinct from 

 any previously noticed.' l 



§ 3. Eange op Habitat and Geological Position of 



E. Columbi. 



The precise localities where remains of the species occur 

 in Mexico, and the conditions under which they are met 

 with, are but imperfectly known. The best authenticated 

 site is the ' Barranca of Regla ' near Eeal del Monte, 60 miles 

 north of the city of Mexico. It is stated in Sillinian's 

 c Journal,' that in that region they are found in some places 

 in beds overlaid by lava. 2 The fragments of Elephant molars 

 communicated by Humboldt to Cuvier are said to have been 

 found at Hue-huetoca, in the valley, and not far from the 

 city of Mexico. 3 Cuvier describes the remains from Hue- 

 huetoca, as detached plates of very large molars, compressed, 

 and with the enamel attenuated and barely crimped, as in 

 the Siberian Mammoth. Yon Meyer states, that the remains 

 brought to Europe by Herr Ulide were met with, partly in the 

 valley of Toluca, near the Hacienda of Salceda, about 9,000 

 feet above the level of the sea, partly near the ancient pyramid 

 of Wilcox (sic), on the Chalco-Lake, at 7,500 feet above 

 the sea, and some others on the hills of Chapultepec, about 

 100 feet above the level of Mexico. 4 M. H. Saussure, in a 

 communication, with which he has very courteously favoured 

 me, mentions that the remains of the fossil Elephant which 

 he brought from Mexico were met with in the deposits of 

 Puebla and on the slopes of Tacubaya, in the valley of Mexico 

 (antea, p. 213) ; and that the Mastodon remains occurred, some 

 of them near Xalapa, others at Atonilco el grande, near Real 

 del Monte, and the great mandible with the elongated beak 

 (antea, p. 226) near Tlascala. In reference to the stratigraphi- 

 cal nature of the deposits, he adds : ' Je crois que tous les 

 terrains du plateau, composes d'argiles et de cinerites con- 

 tiennent les merries especes. Ce sont des amas de dejec- 

 tions volcaniques melees par les eaux qui out rempli les bas- 

 fonds. lis ont une puissance de plus de 100 pieds.' The 

 remains which have been observed in Texas were discovered 

 on the banks of the Brazos and Colorado Eivers, at San 

 Felipe, Bastrop, &c, in. the prairie deposits. 5 Cases of the 

 occurrence of Elephant remains in the valley of the Missis- 



^ Idem, -p. 29. 4 Leonhard and Eronn's ' Jahrbueh,' 



2 Silliman's American Journ. of Scien. 1840, p. 581. 



2nd ser. 1858, p. 283. 



3 Cuvier. Oss. Foss. 4to. torn. i. p. 

 157. 



5 Bollaert. Journ. B. Geograph. Soc. 

 vol. xx. 1850, pp. 115-117. 



