MASTODONS, MAMMOTHS AND OTHER PLEISTOCENE MAMMALS 35 



22 pounds. The weight of the whole was, when I first saw it, 57 pounds 

 and 8 ounces. 



P. S. 'One of the vertebrae of the neck was also found, weighing 2 

 pounds 2 ounces; it was apparently very much decayed. The owner of 

 the lands intends digging for the remainder of the skeleton. A. J. S., 

 1830 (1831) 19:358. 



With the above published description there is a sketch of the tusk 

 and the statement is made that it was drawn from memory. 



Six years after the publication of the above account, an article, 

 written at Rochester, describing another find was published 43 under 

 the title, " Fossil Remains of the Elephant, Elephas primigeneus." 

 The locality is undoubtedly the same as that of the 1830 find since 

 both are at the Irondequoit creek and the same distance from Pitts- 

 ford. Fullam's Basin, the locality for the later find, is just west. of 

 Fairport near the place where the West Shore Railroad crosses Iron- 

 dequoit creek. The 1837 account includes these statements : 



These fossil remains were dug up from a sand bank in the Irondiquot 

 creek in the town of Perinton, about 10 miles east of this city. They con- 

 sist of a tusk and two teeth of the fossil elephant. The teeth are well pre- 

 served. The tusk had decayed for some distance at each end. As it lay 

 in the sand, curved somewhat, it measured 10 feet in length, and 7 feet of 

 it were removed, but a portion of this length broke into many pieces. The 

 longest piece is 2 T /2 feet long, and 5 inches in diameter, and as it belonged 

 near the middle part of the tusk, the whole was of great size and near 

 the root was probably 8 inches in diameter. The large piece and many 

 fragments are now in the possession of Mr Butler, 43a the enterprising 

 proprietor of the museum in this city. 



These fossils were found April 2, 1833, in excavating the earth for the 

 passage of water at a saw-mill. It is said that there was no indications 

 of other bones or teeth. About 20 years before, a thigh bone of some huge 

 animal was found in removing the earth a few rods below in the same 

 bank. The whole probably belonged to the same animal, and more may 

 yet be discovered on further removal of the earth. The thigh bone is 

 said to be in the possession of a gentleman in an adjoining town to Perin- 

 ton, but I have not been able to discover it. The tusk lay about 4 feef-t 

 below the surface, and partly under the stump of a large forest tree. The 

 place was covered with forest a few years ago; I have conversed with 

 several individuals who were at the place, and knew the circumstances, and 

 have examined the remains in the museum. There can be no doubt about 

 the character of these remains and that they had been buried for centuries 

 in the earth. The place is in the road, at the Irondiquot creek, a little 

 distance from the place called Fullum's Basin, perhaps 10 miles from Lake 

 Ontario. 



The thigh bone mentioned as having been found about 20 years 

 before, which would make the date about 1813, seems not to have 

 been known to Mr Guernsey, and no mention is made of Guernsey's 

 letter in the 1837 article. 



In a footnote in the American Journal of Science (1838, 33:123) 

 Prof. C. Dewey states, " The remains of the elephant in the museum 



43 Am. Jour. Set, 1837, 32:377- 



43a Should probably read " Mr Bishop." 



