366 
GEOLOGY OF THE FOURTH DISTRICT. 
when its surface was not materially different from its actual state, and that he may have 
existed coternporaneously with man.”* 
Of the very recent existence of this animal, there can be no doubt; the marl beds and muck 
swamps where these remains occur are the most recent of all superficial accumulations (in¬ 
deed they are now forming), and the surface had arrived at its present condition generally 
before these began to be formed. Any great change, such as the submergence of the land, 
would obliterate these deposits, and mingle their contents with the surrounding drift. That 
they are of very recent formation, is also proved from their usually resting on the drift, being 
the latest deposits in shallow lakes after the final deposition of the sand and clay and the 
elevation of the continent. 
The situation of the bones in the Fourth District offers no exception to the general rule, but 
rather confirms it in all instances. In the first named locality in Perrinton, the deposit of 
gravel and sand is a recent one, made by the stream on which it occurs. 
In the third instance, the bones were somewhat mingled with pebbles, and a portion were 
lying against the side of a large boulder ; but the deposit covering them was evidently of very 
modern origin, containing fluvialile shells. The surface for some distance around had evi¬ 
dently been a lake, which was subsequently filled up, and became a swamp; and finally, 
since the settlement of the country, this swamp has been reclaimed. 
In the fourth instance, the tooth was in the bottom of a muck deposit, and above the gravel. 
At Niagara falls the deposit is a very modern one, containing shells of recent species, and 
evidently of the same age as Goat island, which is elsewhere described. The tooth was pro¬ 
bably drifted by the current into the situation in which it was found, and therefore furnishes 
no knowledge of the period of its existence, but proves the deposition at that place to have 
been subsequent to the destruction of the mastodon. 
The specimen at Stafford, in the bottom of a muck swamp, was probably part of the re¬ 
mains of an animal which had perished here, and had never suffered transportation. 
In the case at Geneseo, where the bones were said to be imbedded in gravel, it is proved 
to have been a shell marl.f 
The deposit of gravel and sand in which the remains of mastodon and deer were found in 
Cattaraugus county, is one of very recent origin, having been made from the ruins of the drift, 
by the stream along which it occurs. 
The same is doubtless true of the formation at Jamestown, as there are some extensive 
deposits of recent origin at the outlet of Chautauque lake ; but I have not examined this 
locality. 
It appears, therefore, from a consideration of all the facts, that the apparent instances of 
* New-York Fauna, Vol. I, Part 1, p. 105. 
| While Mr. Lyell was in this part of the country, being desirous to ascertain the truth among conflicting statements, he pro¬ 
cured an excavation to he made at the spot where the bones were originally found. Some fragments of bones were obtained, 
mixed with marl and freshwater shells, leaving no doubt of the position of the animal, which doubtless perished on the spot where 
these remains occur. 
