MASTODONS, MAMMOTHS AND OTHER PLEISTOCENE MAMMALS 5 1 



teeth. These remains were found in a shallow excavation 2 feet 



below the surface. In size the jaw is slightly larger than that of 



the Cohoes mastodon." 90 The specimen remains in the possession 



of the finder. 



The Temple Hill Skeleton 



(Also named the >McMillin Mastodon as a memorial of the late Emerson 

 McMillin who defrayed the cost of acquisition.) 



79 1921. Temple Hill (plates 8-9). This skeleton, exceeded 

 in size by no mounted specimen except the Warren mastodon and 

 second only to it in completeness, came from the muck lands near 

 Temple Hill only a few hundred feet from the site of the excava- 

 tion that produced a lower jaw and other bone fragments of 

 another individual in 1917. A part of the cranium was noticed in 

 the fall of 1920 during construction of a drainage ditch but con- 

 dition of soil and weather prevented excavation. Following a pro- 

 tracted drouth in the spring of 1921 the work of exhuming the 

 skeleton commenced and within a few days all the large bones were 

 recovered. Some of the ribs, back and tail vertebrae, a part of the 

 cranium and a few toe bones are lacking. The many free epiphyses 

 and the condition of the teeth show that the bones belonged to a 

 young but nearly full-grown animal. 



The topography of the land in the vicinity and the disposition of 

 muck and marl reveal the former existence of a pond of consider- 

 able extent; the area is now partly drained and under cultivation. 

 The position in which the bones were found gives support to the 

 theory that the mastodon mired while foraging along the boggy 

 margin of the pond, for head and tusks were nearest the present 

 surface of the ground, as if thrown back in an effort to keep them 

 above water. The muck at the site of the excavation varies from 

 1 to 3 feet in thickness and covers marl of unknown depth. Most 

 of the bones were recovered from the marl but all were within 5 

 feet of the surface. 



In view of the great size and relative completeness of the skeleton 

 and its extraordinary preservation, attention may be directed to 

 some of its interesting features. 



Dentition. Twelve teeth are preserved in the jaws, three on each 

 side above and below; the so-called intermediate molars show con- 

 siderable wear and are retained anteriorly by a thin shell of bone. 

 The worn surface of the ultimate molars involves only two anterior 

 crests. 



90 Clarke, N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 196, 1918, p. 47- 

 4 



