H, Woodicard — On the Mammoth. 541 



of the Mammoth," published in the Popular Science Review, vol. 

 vii., July, 18G8) it is stated that "the tusks were eight feet in length, 

 thick, and curving outwards at their ends." 



This, then, was evidently (like our Ilford Mammoth) an adult and, 

 probably, an aged beast. 



It is greatly to be regretted that Benkendorf had no draughtsman 

 with him, as the loss of the animal (through the giving way of the 

 river's-bank) deprives science of one of the grandest relics of a 

 former world ever met with. 



With regard to Adams's Mammoth (preserved in the St. Petersburg 

 Museum) most of the readers of this Journal will be familiar with 

 its history. 



It was discovered in the summer of 1799, half -buried in frozen 

 soil and ice, by a Tungusian chief, engaged in seeking for ' Mam- 

 moth-horns ' along the shores of the peninsula of Tamut, at the 

 mouth of the river Lena, in Siberia. 



After overcoming his first fears that the beast was an evil omen 

 (which brought on a serious illness), his desire for gain, says 

 Adams, caused him to set a watch on the beast until 1804, when, it 

 being then entirely freed from the ice, he cut off its horns and ex- 

 changed them with a merchant for goods of the value of 50 roubles 

 (=£7 18s. 4:d.), the reward of five years waiting and watching ! 



Adams having heard of it, in 1806, in his travels, determined, if 

 practicable, to obtain it. With infinite pains and industry he traced 

 out the spot where the Mammoth lay, and gathered together all that 

 remained of his prize. For, after its ' horns' had been annexed by 

 the chief, it became common property; and first the Jakutski of 

 the neighbourhood, with their dogs, assembled and feasted on its 

 flesh, and then the white bears, wolves, wolverines, and foxes polished 

 off the remainder and picked the bones, which, however, remained 

 almost entire, being held together by their cartilages and sinews. 

 These he carefully packed up and forwarded to St. Petersburg, a 

 distance of 11,000 worsts (7,330 miles). 



He adds : " When I arrived at Jakutsk, I had the good fortune 

 to re -purchase the tusks." But there is reason to doubt whether 

 Adams really did get the right tusks after all. 



Professor Maskelyne, who examined the specimen very carefully 

 when in St. Petersburg in 1865, considers that they do not belong 

 to the skull, and that there is a disparity between the portion within 

 the alveolus and the rest of the tusk. 



There is a statement made by Mr. Boyd Dawkins in the paper 

 already referred to in the " Popular Science Eeview," which I beg 

 here to be allowed to correct. 



After describing (at p. 277) the character of the Ilford deposit, 

 and especially the layer containing the bones of Mammalia " full of 

 the shells of Corbicida (Cyrena) fliminalis with the valves united, 

 and of the common Eiver-mussel {Anodon), and the land Helix 

 nemoralis " — he proceeds to say : '' On a continuation of the same 

 platform, now cut away, the skull of the Mammoth was discovered 

 in 1864, perfect with the exception of the tusks, which had been 



