[Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., Vol. XIV, No. 3, pp. 67-68, July 6, 1901.] 



DISCOVERY OF A MASTODON'S TOOTH AND THE 



REMAINS OF A BOREAL VEGETATION IN 



A SWAMP ON STATEN ISLAND, N. Y. 



By Arthur Rollick 



(Read Nov. 13, 1899) 



In the Moravian Cemetery at New Dorp, Staten Island, was 

 a swamp, which, until the past summer, was rather a conspicu- 

 ous feature, by reason of its quaking margin of peat and sedges, 

 with a pool of dark coffee-colored water towards the center. 

 It occupied a depression in the moraine, at a distance of about 

 1,200 feet from the margin and at an elevation of about 1 20 feet 

 above tidewater. The superficial area of the swamp was about 

 3,500 square feet and the pool of water would fill up and over- 

 flow in time of rains and become almost or completely dry in 

 periods of drought. 



In the recent development of the cemetery it was decided to 

 drain off the water, dig out the mud, and allow the depression 

 to fill up again as a pond. It was during the progress of this 

 work that the discoveries here recorded were made. 



The surface deposit was found to consist of a fine moss peat 

 and a coarse peat composed of all kinds of swamp vegetation, 

 extending out to the margin of the pool, while below this and 

 forming the bottom of the pool was a black organic mud, such 

 as may be seen in almost any swamp where decaying vegetation 

 has accumulated. Below this the deposit was a fine sandy silt, 

 distinctly stratified, the layers following the general contour of 

 the depression, thicker towards the middle and thinning out at 

 the edges. The general shape of the depression is roughly 

 pyramidal, with steeper sides on the north and east than on the 

 south and west. The deepest part is in the northeast angle, 

 where the entire deposit was about 25 feet in thickness. All 

 this deposit has been taken out and the sides and bottom of the 

 depression are now exposed to view. 



(67) 



