75 



Note R—Pagc 53. 



The M. afigustidens^ which has been included among the Nortli 

 American fossil animals, on the authority of a tooth in a private 

 collection in Philadelphia, is rather doubtful ; at least it ha? been 

 examined by many of our naturalists, and referred by most of them 

 to the M. maximus. 



We will take this occasion to mention that there is reason 

 to suspect that the Hippopotamus formerly existed in this hemis- 

 phere. A few months since Dr. Barlow, of Granville, (Massa- 

 chusetts) presented to the Cabinet of the Lyceum a tooth which 

 had been found a few feet beneath the surface, in some low lands 

 in his neighborhood. Upon examination it was ascertained to be 

 the right superior canine of the Hippopotamus. In another place, 

 Ami. Lyc. vol. i. p. 98, we have alluded to the fact that many 

 teeth of the same animal, in the Cabinet of the Lyceum, were ob- 

 tained from the Falkland Islands. 



Note I — Page 62. 



The names of rivers, lakes, mountains, &c. in the less frequent- 

 ed parts of our country, which have so often been subjects of cri- 

 ticism, are generally literal translations of the ancient Indian 

 names. It would certainly be preferable in all cases to retain the 

 sonorous Indian appellations, where these can be ascertained. 

 Ludicrous as these translated names appear, they are always de- 

 scriptive, and evidently more appropriate than those adopted by 

 an enlightened nation, whose voyages of discovery are filled with 

 the names of mountains, rivers, &c. uniformly taken from the 

 friends and relatives of the travellers. The names of the imme- 

 diate patrons of the expedition are reserved for more conspicuous 

 objects ; such as elevated peaks, prominent headlands, or capa- 

 cious bays. The words New North, or New South, followed 

 by the name of a petty district at home, is not unfrequently em- 

 ployed to designate tracts of country large enough to form cor 



