JO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The Type Specimen of Elephas americanus DeKay 

 In 1842 DeKay 30 described and figured a tooth of a mammoth, 

 which he called the American elephant, Elephas ameri- 

 canus. His description follows : "It is with some hesitation 

 that I venture to designate, under a new name, a species founded 

 on specimens of teeth, which appear to differ widely from any 

 hitherto met in this country. The tooth found on the banks of the 

 Susquehannah, near Tioga, March 1786, and figured in the Colum- 

 bian Magazine, approaches it somewhat, but can scarcely be re- 

 ferred to the same species. The specimens above alluded to were 

 found in a diluvial formation near the Irondiquoit river in Monroe 

 county, 10 miles east of the city of Rochester. According to a 

 writer in the American Journal, vol. 32, p. 377, these remains con- 

 sisted of a tusk and two molars, one of which is in the Cabinet of 

 the Lyceum, and is that figured in the plate. This is 6 inches in 

 its greatest depth; and, as nearly as can be conjectured from the 

 part which remains, it must have been about 8 inches long, and 3 

 in breadth on its grinding surface, which is, however, too much 

 injured to exhibit the ends of the enamel. There are thirteen plates 

 in a space of 5 inches, and they are more compressed than in any 

 fossil species with which I am acquainted, being almost in contact, 

 with very little interstitial substance. It is altogether different from 

 any fossil elephant hitherto described, and merits the distinct 

 appellation of E. americanu s." 



In the account of the Perinton, Monroe county, mastodon it has 

 been pointed out that the remains from Perinton described in 1837, 

 as " Fossil Remains of the Elephant, Elephas primi- 

 g e n e u s," were actually those of the mastodon and that the speci- 

 men described by DeKay possibly came from without the State, or 

 at least it was not one of the two teeth found at Perinton, because 

 they belonged to the mastodon. The teeth found at Perinton are 

 described as " well preserved," but both the figure and description 

 of the elephant tooth as given by DeKay show that it was more or 

 less decayed and a part actually missing. DeKay's type is no longer 

 in existence, having been destroyed by fire. 31 According to the 

 figure and measurements given by DeKay the tooth may be regarded 

 as a synonym of Elephas primigenius. 



In view of the facts above stated the Perinton locality in Monroe; 

 county is not included in the list of mammoths which follow. 



w tfat. Hist. N. Y.; Zool., 1842, pt 1, p. 101; pi. 32, fig. 2. 

 "Am. Mus. Novitates No. 41, July 1922, p. 1. 



