66 FOSSIL MAMMALIA, 



the materials he had thus obtained by three months of labori- 

 ous research, he formed two skeletons, copying artificially from 

 the bones of one what was wanting in the other, and from the 

 bones of one side what \v^s deficient on the opposite. 



Since this discovery, the osteology of this great animal may 

 be considered as completely known, with the exception of the 

 upper part of the cranium. The most complete of these ske- 

 letons is placed in Mr. Peale'*s museum at Philadelphia; the 

 other was brought to our capital by one of his sons, and pub- 

 licly exhibited. 



Besides these materials, there are many in the museum at 

 Paris. The most remarkable constitute the present made to 

 that repository by Mr. Jefferson : these are an enormous tusk, 

 two half lower-jaws, one of which, having belonged to a young 

 subject, is of great interest, as regards^ the teeth, a tibia, a 

 radius, almost all the bones of the tarsus, metatarsus, carpus 

 and metacarpus, some phalanges, ribs, and vertebrae. The 

 bones of the mastodon, as well as those of the other fossil spe- 

 cies which accompany them, are most generally found in marshy 

 places, where there is a sort of brackish water, which attracts 

 wild animals, especially deer, to which places the Americans 

 have, for this reason, given the name of lick. The most cele- 

 brated of those depots near the Ohio is called Big-bone-lick. 



There is a spot in Kentucky, to the south-east of the Ohio, 

 sunk in between small hills, and occupied by a marsh, in which 

 is a small stream of brackish water. The bottom of this consists 

 of a black and stinking mud. Here, and on the borders of the 

 marsh, the remains of tijie mastodon have been found in the 

 most astonishing profusion. This mud is intermixed with a 

 fine sand, and some ligneous debris are distinguishable in it. 

 On being tried with nitric acid, it exhaled a fetid odour, indi- 

 cative of some animal principle, and being analysed was found 

 to be composed of about sixty-five parts of argilla, sixteen of 

 sand, and five of sulphate of lime to every hundred. The 



