48 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



have disappeared more recently than is commonly sup- 

 posed ; that is, previous to the commencement of the 

 modern group. " 



In most instances, there is sufficient evidence that 

 these animals died, and left their bones to become fos- 

 silized in the precise situations in which they are now 

 found ; and that they have not been brought from a dis- 

 tance or exposed to the action of running waters, which 

 proves clearly that they have been destroyed subse- 

 quently to the action of those causes which formed the 

 beds of gravel or diluvial detritus, in and upon which 

 they are frequently found. 



Not only are the teeth and bones of this animal un- 

 worn by the action of running waters, but the skeleton 

 is not unfrequently discovered in a standing position, 

 just as the animal has sunk into the marsh or mud, clay 

 and sand. Such were those from Great Osage river. 

 Cuv. An. Foss. vol. i. p. 222,, and in the skeleton no- 

 ticed by Dekay and others. Ann. N. Y. Lyceum. 



In some instances it would appear that the stomach 

 itself, with its vegetable contents, has been preserved. 

 In a letter addressed to Cuvier, by the late Professor B. 

 S. Barton, there is an account of the discovery of the 

 remains of a Mastodon in Withe county, Virginia, five 

 feet and a half beneath the soil, on a bank of limestone. 

 u But what renders this discovery peculiarly curious," 

 continues M. Cuvier, Anim. Foss. vol. i. p. 219, "is 

 that they collected from amidst these bones, a mass of 

 * semimasticated small branches, grasses, leaves &c, 

 among which it w^as thought a species of brier, still 



