24 THE MASTODON. 



twigs to half an inch in diameter. There was mixed with 

 these a large quantity of finer vegetable substance, like 

 finely divided leaves ; the whole amounting from four to 

 six bushels. From the appearance of this, and its situa- 

 tion, it was supposed to be the contents of the stomach ; 

 and this opinion was confirmed on removing the pelvis, 

 underneath which, in the direction of the last of the in- 

 testines, was a train of the same material, about three 

 feet in length and four inches in diameter. A portion 

 of this was examined under the microscope by Professor 

 Gray who concluded that the 'woody matter consisted 

 of twigs of some corniferous tree or shrub, and probably 

 of some kind of spruce or fir.' " 



Immediately around and beneath the bones of the mas- 

 todon found near Goshen, New York, was a stratum 

 of coarse vegetable stems and films resembling chopped 

 straw, or rather the drift stuff of the sea ; for in it were 

 broken fibres of conferva (algas, or water-plant), like 

 those of the Atlantic shore. 



The skeleton discovered in Wythe county, Virginia, at a 

 depth of six feet, and resting on a bed of limestone, con- 

 tained, according to Bishop Madison, in the middle of the 

 bones a partly masticated ball of small twigs, grasses, and 

 leaves, among which was recognized a kind of reed still 

 common in Virginia, and the whole was enveloped in a 

 kind of sac which was undoubtedly the stomach of the 

 animal. 



There is every evidence then to show that the mastodon 

 was a vegetable feeder, and subsisted on the coarse as well 

 as the tender branches of trees, with their leaves, on rushes 

 and other aquatic plants. It has been conjectured that 

 one reason why they lived along the banks of the rivers 

 was to avail themselves of the roots of trees which grew 

 along the edges or borders of the marshes, and which 

 could be easily dug up or pried out by the tusks. Some 



