The Shaiv Mastodon. 



217 



THE SHAW MASTODON. 



An Examination and Description of Mastodon and 

 Accompanying Mammalian Remains found 

 Near Cincinnati, June, 1894. 



By Seth Hayes, 



Museum Director of Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



On June 4, 1894, some Italian laborers were sinking a cis- 

 tern upon the property of Miss Louise Shaw, in Hyde Park, 

 near Cincinnati. They threw out some fragmentary bones 

 and pieces of tusks, which were incentives for an extended 

 and careful search, that has resulted in adding valuable mate- 

 rial to the already extensive collections of the Cincinnati 

 Society of Natural History. 



The first fragments reached the Society by means of a 

 student in one of the Cincinnati High Schools, having been 

 sent by Prof. George W. Harper. The Museum Director, in 

 company with another officer of the Society, visited the site 

 of the cistern. By permission of Miss Shaw, the writer de- 

 scended to the bottom of the fourteen-foot cistern and, by 

 means of a little undermining, recovered a finely preserved 

 tibia. After a careful study of the fragments already brought 

 to light, and a survey of the location, the writer was con- 

 vinced that more material could be snatched from mother 

 earth, which would, in all probability, be of greater value 

 than the specimens already found. Miss Shaw having given 

 her willing consent for further excavations, the matter was 

 referred to the Executive Board, with the Director's recom- 

 mendation, who, in turn, instructed him to do as he thought 

 best, although they were of the almost unanimous opinion 

 that nothing would be found. As a consequence, work was 

 commenced upon the second and largest shaft July 10.* Its 



:: 'The cistern is considered by this paper as the first shaft. 



