MASTODONS, MAMMOTHS AND OTHER PLEISTOCENE MAMMALS 6l 



He states that the animal may have mired there after the valley 

 was cut down to its present level or that it was washed out of the 

 gravels and concentrated in the swampy area; it is not now possible 

 with the information at hand, to decide between these alternatives. 



92 1914. Pony Hollow. The account of this find as given by 

 Pearl Sheldon 13 is as follows: 



A tusk of a proboscidean, probably M'astodon americanus, was 

 found recently in a gravel pit in Pony Hollow, 12 miles southwest of 

 Ithaca, N. Y., on the property of Mr Bert Drake. Unlike most mastodon 

 finds from this region this is not postglacial. It was found in place 24 

 feet below the surface in stratified sand and gravel which was being used 

 in good roads work. The pit is in the base of an extensive terrace whose 

 top follows the valley wall high above the outwash gravel plain which 

 occupies the floor of the valley. The exact origin of this Pleistocene ter- 

 race is obscure but it is certainly not later than the end of the ice occupa- 

 tion of the valley and may be earlier. 



The tusk was broken in removing the gravel. Two pieces, each about 

 a foot long, from 10 to 13 inches in circumference, were presented to the 

 paleontological museum of Cornell by E. A. Dahmen, the road engineer. 

 Three approximate measurements of the curvature of the tusk gave from 

 2 feet 1 inch to 2 feet 11 inches as the radius of curvature. 



Ulster County 



93 1800. Town of Shawangunk. The first mastodon remains 

 found in Ulster county as at present constituted was in this year. 

 Earlier records from Ulster county were from that portion which 

 was annexed to Orange in 1798 and are recorded under Orange 

 county. 



An excellent account of the 1800 14 find is given in a letter written 

 by Dr James G. Graham under date of September 10, 1800 to Doctor 

 Mitchill. In his letter Graham 15 mentions a number of localities 

 where fossil bones had been found and at one locality some hair, 

 about 3 inches long, of a dark dun color. The letter continued : 



And last week another skeleton has been discovered, about 3 miles east 

 of my house, in the town of Shawangunk, about 10 miles northeast of 

 said bridge (=Ward's Bridge). These last discovered bones lie about 10 

 feet from the surface, and are in a very sound state. Many of them have 

 been raised, but some much broken, especially the bones of the head, 

 which, I am persuaded, lie entire, and in their natural order. 



I have procured two bones of this last discovered skeleton, and sent 

 them to New-York, by Edward W. Laight, Esq. for the purpose of having 

 them examined by yourself, and other well-informed naturalists in the 

 city. One of these I take to be a metacarpal or metatarsal bone, which 

 indicates the animal to have been claw-footed and, from the forms of the 

 astragalus and os calcis which were among the bones sent to Dr Bayley, 

 to have resembled the foot of the bear. With respect to the other bone, 



:3 Science, n. s.. 1915, 41 :o8, 99- 



u These remains should not be confused with the well-known " Shawan— 

 gunk head " which was found in Orange county at Scotchtown in 1844. 

 15 Medical Repository. New York, 1801, 4:213-14. 





