190 APPENDIX. 



I. — Page 162. 



SKULL OF AX EXTIXCT BEAVER FOUND IN A DEPOSIT CORRESPONDING WITH 

 THAT OF THE MASTODON GIGANTEUS. 



A very interesting head of an ancient extinct Beaver of large size was discovered in Clyde, 

 New York. The situation and condition of this specimen correspond nearly, though not exactly, 

 with those of our northern .Mastodon ; and, as the deposits are very distinctly and scientifically 

 described, we shall state them in the words of the able geologist, James Hall, Esq. : — 



" The situation in which it was found is an elevated plateau, or level tract of land, a portion 

 only of which would be denominated a swamp, though the whole surface is covered with a peaty 

 soil, which supports a heavy growth of elm, hemlock, and ash, with some maple and beach. 

 This elevated ground is the summit-level, from which the waters flow, in opposite directions, 

 into Lake Ontario on the north, and into the Clyde River, and thence into the Cayuga and 

 Seneca Lake outlets on the south. The precise locality of the fossil was near the termination 

 of a shallow ravine, or the bed of a small stream, which flows into Lake Ontario in a north- 

 easterly direction. 



" The extent- of this level tract is about five or six miles; while its width, in most parts, is 

 much less. Along nearly its entire length, a canal of eight or ten feet deep has been excavated ; 

 and in this excavation, about eight feet below the surface, the skull was found, the lower jaw 

 separated some little distance from the cranium. 



" A section at this place, and at numerous others near the same spot, presents the following 

 characters : — 



" 1. Muck, or vegetable soil, supporting a heavy growth of timber, two feet or more in 

 thickness. 



" 2. Fine sand, with occasional thin bands of clay, often consisting of alternating layers 

 of sand, twigs, leaves, and other fragments of vegetable matter, and much blackened thereby ; 

 two to three feet thick. 



" 3. Muck, or peaty soil, composed of decayed fragments of wood, bark, leaves, &c, en- 

 closing trunks of trees of large size, about four feet thick. 



" SKULL OF CASTOROIDES OHIOENSIS. 



" 4. Fihe sand, with shells of Planorbis, Valvata, Cyclas, &c. ; one to two or three feet thick. 



