AND VARIOUS OTHER BONES OF THE MASTODON. 47 



time a question among scientific men ; but the Committee are of opinion that 

 ten or ten and a half feet was the greatest natural height of any one whose 

 remains they have examined. 



The committee cannot conclude this report without congratulating the So- 

 ciety on the possession of the entire head of this interesting animal. The ac- 

 quisition is indeed a precious one, not only from its being, so far, unique, but 

 as it furnishes materials for determining nearly all the doubtful points relative 

 to the characters of the genus, and for fixing its relations and position in the 

 animal kingdom, &c. 



All that is now wanting, indeed, to complete the history of the osteology of 

 this animal, is the discovery of a head with the tusks in situ, so as to deter- 

 mine positively the direction of the latter — whether their convexity was up- 

 wards or downwards. 



NOTE BY DR. HAYS. 



Read May 21, 1841. 



Since the preceding paper was read to the Society, I have seen the " Se- 

 cond annual Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Ohio, by W. W. 

 Mather, principal Geologist, and several assistants," in which I find a brief 

 notice of the bones which have just been described, and some facts rela- 

 tive to their geological position, of much interest, and which I will therefore 

 subjoin. 



These bones, according to Mr. Briggs, one of the assistants of Mr. Mather, 

 were found in a bed of fresh-water-shell marl, about four feet thick. This 

 marl is composed of argillaceous matter and fresh-water shells, among which 

 were observed lymnaea, planorbis, physa, and some species of cyclas, and is 

 covered by a layer of peat four feet thick. These beds were deposited in a 

 depression in a stratum of yellowish clay, which forms the surface of the coun- 

 try, and contains pebbles of primary and secondary rocks. Beneath this is a 

 stratum of bluish clay, reposing on shale and limestone, containing pebbles 

 of primitive rocks, and of the subjacent shale and water-worn limestone. 



