PREFATORY REMARKS. 



The object of this publication is to describe the Mastodon Giganteus of North America. To 

 this task the writer has been led by the possession of an almost perfect skeleton, which seemed 

 to demand of him a description. This description has naturally led to the notice of other 

 subjects connected with the Mastodon history. It may therefore be proper to specify the other 

 means of investigation enjoyed. 



The description of the skeleton has been aided by a careful comparison with the Cambridge 

 skeleton; by the bones of the Baltimore Mastodon, those of the skeleton formerly in the 

 Museum of Mr. Peale at Philadelphia, and a complete set of the separate bones of a young 

 Elephant in my collection ; by the skeleton of a young Elephant in the Museum of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, and a noble one in that of Moses Kimball, Esq. Finally, by a 

 comparison with the skeleton of the Elephant Pizarro, — one of the largest animals brought to 

 this country, — drowned in the Delaware, and the bones of which are placed by the side of the 

 great Mastodon. 



Repeated examinations have also been made of the specimens in the large collection at 

 Philadelphia, belonging to the American Philosophical Society, and that of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences; also of those in the Cabinet of the Lyceum of Natural History, New York, 

 and of the large collection at Washington belonging to Government. 



Assistance has also been derived from the inspection of four perfect heads of different ages, 

 and an additional mandible in our University ; a large Mastodon head (equal in size and perfec- 

 tion to that of the skeleton), and various fragments of lower jaws belonging to myself; the 

 separate head of an African Elephant in the collection of the Boston Society of Natural His- 

 tory, and Elephant heads of various ages in my own possession. An examination has been 

 made of a number of jaws of Mastodon individuals of different ages, numerous Mastodon teeth, 

 a collection of those of the Fossil Elephants, and many belonging to existing species. 



