THE MISSOURIUM. 11 
close examination the observer will perceive that the teeth of 
the Leviathan are much smaller in proportion to the maxillary 
bones than those of the Mastodon, and also better calculated 
for masticulating softer substances. 
SUPPOSED HABITS AND NATURE OF THE ANIMAL. 
The animal has been without doubt an inhabitant of water 
courses, such as large rivers and lakes, which is proven by the 
formation of the bones: Ist, his feet were webbed; 2nd, all 
his bones were solid and without marrow, as the aquatic animals 
of the present day; 3rd, his ribs were too small and slender 
to resist the many pressures and bruises they would be subject 
to on land; 4th, his legs are short and thick; 5th, his tail is 
flat and broad: 6th and last, his tusks are so situated in the 
head that it would be utterly impossible for him to exist in a 
timbered country. He possessed, also, like the hypopotamus, 
the faculty of walking on the bottom of waters, and rose oc- 
casionally to take air. 
‘The singular position of the tusks has been very wisely 
adapted by the Creator for the protection of the body from 
the many injuries to which it would be exposed. while swim- 
ming or walking under the water. 
THE LOCATION AND EXCAVATION OF THE BONES. 
The bones were found by me near the shores of the river 
La Pomme de Terre, a tributary of the Osage river, in Benton 
county, in the state of Missouri, latitude 40 and longitude 18. 
There is every reason to believe that the Pomme de Terre, at 
some former period, was a large and magnificent stream, from 
‘one-half to three-fourths of a mile in breadth, and that its 
waters washed the high rocky bluffs on either side, where the 
marks of the rolling surges are now perfectly plam: they 
present a similar appearance to that of the Missouri and 
Mississippi. It appears from the different strata, that since 
the Missourium existed, six or seven different changes have 
taken place here, by which the original bed of the Pomme de 
‘Terre was filled with as many different strata, which are as 
follows ;-— 
Bz 
