THE MASTODON 165 



hibited in London, and afterwards at Peale's Museum in 

 Philadelphia where, with much other valuable material, 

 it was destroyed by fire. 



Struck by the evident crushing power of the great 

 ridged molars, Peale was led to believe that the 

 mastodon was a creature of carnivorous habits, and so 

 described it, but this error is excusable, the more that 

 to this day, when the mastodon is well known, and its 

 description published time and again in the daily papers, 

 finders of the teeth often consider them as belonging to 

 some huge beast of prey. 



Since the time of Peale several fine specimens have 

 been taken from Ulster and Orange Counties, among 

 them the well-known "Warren Mastodon," and there is 

 not the slightest doubt that many more will be recov- 

 ered from the meadows, swamps, and pond holes of 

 these two counties. 



The next mastodon to appear on the scene was the 

 so-called Missourium of Albert Koch, which he con- 

 structed somewhat as he did the Hydrarchus of several 

 individuals pieced together, thus forming a skeleton 

 that was a monster in more ways than one. To heighten 

 the effect, the curved tusks were so placed that they 

 stood out at right angles to the sides of the head, like the 

 swords upon the axles of ancient war chariots. Like 

 Peale's specimen this was exhibited in London, and 

 there it still remains, for, stripped of its superfluous 

 bones, and remounted, it may now be seen in the British 

 Museum. 



Many a mastodon has come to light since the time of 

 Koch, for while it is commonly supposed that remains 

 of the animal are great rarities, as a matter of fact they 

 are quite common, and it may safely be said that during 

 the seasons of ditching, draining, and well-digging not a 

 week passes without one or more mastodons being un- 



