FOSSIL MASTODON AND MAMMOTH REMAINS. 37 



country. This depression formerly contained a few feet of water, 

 and it still receives surface drainage in times of heavy rainfall. 

 The soil was composed of the washings from the surrounding 

 land and the remains of marsh vegetation characteristic of sim- 

 ilar surface conditions on the Wisconsin drift. When the digging- 

 had proceeded to a depth of about four or five feet, a deposit of 

 bone fragments was discovered. This included the bodies of four 

 or five dorsal vertebrae, portion of one rib, a short section from 

 the lower end of the tibia, and the lower extremity of the left 

 femur, besides a number of fragments difficult to assign to their 

 exact location in the skeleton. The masses would about fill a half- 

 bushel basket. There were none of the long bones complete and 

 none of the pieces would give a very correct notion of the entire 

 length of any of these portions of the skeleton. The parts giving 

 the best idea of proportion are the vertebrae, the head of a rib, 

 in quite good state of preservation, and the lower extremity' of 

 the femur. The vertebrae show both anterior and posterior ar- 

 ticular surfaces, in a perfect state of preservation. The transverse 

 and vertical measurements of these surfaces are nearly exactly the 

 same, four and one half inches. The antero-posterior diameter, 

 of the vertebral body, is exceedingly short, considering the im- 

 mensity of the other measurements. The length is but two 

 and one-half inches. This must have given the creature a back 

 grotesquely^ short in comparison with its gigantic size. The artic- 

 ular facets on the inner surface of the head of the rib measure 

 three and one half inches. The excavations at the anterior and 

 posterior extremities of the vertebral bodies almost blend into one 

 another. The part giving the most correct notion of the enor- 

 mous size of the animal is the remains of the thigh bone. The 

 fragment represents a section from the lower end of the bone just 

 long enough to show the femoral trochlea and the two condyls. 

 These are almost perfect, with the exception that a small frag- 

 ment has been broken away from the external posterior part 

 of the external condyl. The internal condyl is in a perfect state 

 of preservation. The extreme length of the articular surface ex- 



