§ 22. THE MASTODON. 157 



a circumstance from which these swamps have acquired the 

 American name of Lick. In these morasses vast quantities 

 of bones and several entire skeletons of elephants and other 

 gigantic quadrupeds have been discovered. The spot most 

 celebrated for these remains in Kentucky, is called Big-bone 

 Lick, which is situated to the south-east of the Ohio, in the 

 midst of a group of low hills, and is traversed by a small 

 stream of brackish water. The bottom consists of black 

 fetid mud, intermingled with sand and vegetable matter ; 

 and in this bog, bones occur in abundance. Some of them 

 are referable to the mammoth ; but others, as you may 

 observe from the specimens before us, belonged to a creature 

 not less gigantic, but with very distinct characters. These 

 teeth are composed of dentine and enamel ; and the latter 

 is spread over the crown of the tooth, which, before it is 



Lign. 25. — Tooth of the great mastodon, from the banks of the 



HUDSON; WEIGHT 41b S ; ONE-THIRD NATURAL SIZE LINEAR. 



(Mastodon giganteus.) 



worn by use, is divided into several transverse tubercles, 

 or processes, each of which is subdivided into two obtuse 

 points, these transverse ridges not being filled up with 



