OCCURRENCE NEAR SOUTHERN END OF JAMES BAY. 383 
that in this habitat the ground would be frozen for the greater part of 
the year is another reason why he would not use his tusks for digging. 
Tar OccuRRENCE oF Masropon REMAINS NEAR THE SOUTHERN 
Extremity oF JAMES Bay 
When at moose factory, at the southwestern extremity of James bay, 
in the autumn of 1877, I was presented by Mr. K. Parson, the chief 
factor in charge, with a very perfect tooth of a mastodon, which had 
been obtained shortly before my visit in the bed of the Moose river, at 
its first bend below the junction of the Missinaibi and Mattagami to form 
this trunk stream. ‘The locality is 46 miles in a straight line southwest- 
ward from moose factory and has an elevation of about 150 feet above the 
sea. In the middle of summer of that year, the stream was very low, and 
an Indian passing down in his canoe happened to see a very large bone, - 
which turned out to be a mastodon’s jaw, lying in the shallow water. 
Setting it on end beside his canoe, he chopped out this tooth with his 
hatchet, and then allowed the jaw to drop back into the river. The 
molar is of a medium size and is very well preserved. It has nine con- 
ical points or tubercles, all of which are entirely covered with enamel. 
At the same time that I obtained this tooth I was informed by Mr Par- 
son that some years previously a party of Indians had found some large 
bones in the bed of the Abitibi river, between the lowest on Sextant 
rapids and its junction with Moose river, which occurs at 18 miles above 
Moose factory. From the description, I judged them at the time to be 
elephantine remains. The Sextant rapids are at the upper end of the 
first stretch of the Abitibi river after leaving its mouth. ‘The superficial 
deposits are of the same character along this stretch as on the main 
Moose river for many miles above and below the junction of the two 
streams. 
THe PLEISTOCENE Deposits SOUTHWEST OF JAMES Bay 
In order the better to surmise the conditions and the geological time 
of the existence of the mastodon in the region around the southern ex- 
tremity of James bay, I should here give a short description of the Pleis- 
tocene deposits and of the general character of the district. 
Quaternary clays containing recent marine shells extend as far, at 
least, as the Sextant rapids, and fragments of lignite washed out of these 
deposits were observed along the margins of the river in this section. 
The upward general course of Moose river, which is continued by the 
