IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) k // ^^ y .< ^ /^> 1.0 I.I 11.25 S us Hio ||L8 llJi. 116 m ^7;. /^ ^.^* "> r '/ ^ ^^ iV iV :\ \ *> ■» ^.^. east coast of HikIhoi) Imy 370 <»|iiiiioiis of Professors \V. IJoyd Dawkins ami V,. D. Copo timt it bi'longed to I'lli jiliii.< ciiliinilii 37 1 Toolli of {•!. rnhniilii foiiml near Ivliiioiitoii, 011 tlu' N'mtli Saskatcliowan river. 372 Keiiiains of inainiiiotii aixi otiier iiiaiiiinals foiiiiil near tlie iiioiitli of tlie Mc- Keii/.ie river aixl on the l'orfii|(iiie ami Yukon rivtMs I>7.'{ Itelics of tiu" i)isc(i) ami reiiuieer in tlie Klondike district .373 Short sketch of the ^jeiiloyiical history of the mastodon and the nianinioth . . . 374 The four species of fossil elephants of Kiirope .374 Prohahle specific identity of the inanimoth and the existinj,' elephant of India. 37."> Causes of the extinction of species in the case of nianiiiials ',\~'t lke;.'ional nii^iralionsiif the inamnioth and of certain livinj; nortliern nuuinnal.«. ;i7<) I'rohahilily of annual niiyrralion of the inanimoth in Siberia .377 ( 'anses of till' extinction of the iiiainiiioth in Siheria ;>77 Kxaniple of wholesale death of reindeer in Xortii .\nierica .t7H The preservation of carcassi's of niainnioths in Siheria .37!l I'rohahle reason of the ahnndance of niainniolh hones in (hiviatile deposit.H in Siheria 37t» linprolialile theories as to the last two siihiects ;!7it Food of the iiiaiiiiiioth -his w ide ;:eoi.'rapliii'al rany;e 380 Woolly coat.« of this and some other northern nianinials 3S0 The disajipearance of llu' nianinioth from ICiirope 381 The extinction of the niamiiioth in North America 381 Inferences from the lenirth ainl cnivatnre of the tusks of the nianinioth 382 The occurrence of mastodon reiniiins near thesoutheiii extremity of .lames hay. 38.3 Characters, extent, elevatinii, eti-elera. of the PU'islucene deposits southwest of .lames hay 383 Numerous seams of intertflacial liirnite in the distrit-t where the niastodorj jaw and tooth were found .'[.s.") I'rohahle period wlu-n the niastoilon lived in the rejrion of .lanies hay .387 Mastodon hones found on Shell river, in Manitoha .387 Identilication of these hones and paiticulars as to tlieir occurrence 388 LV-Hn.I.. (iKl.l,. Sim. \>t., V.il.. !l, INIIT (3t>!() HTO |{. IJKI.I, — in |)S(»N HAY MAMMOTH AND MASTODON HKMAINS. Pcscriptiiiii of flu' (IcpositH in wliicli tlicv were fiumil iSSS Various liiscovi-iii-H n( iiminiiinlli and niastnilmi ii-inaiiis in tttiuT paits of Canada 'M\f IXTHDOIUTION III the followinji paper on the discovery of the remains of l)otii the nianimolh ami the inast()«h)n around Hudson liay it is proposed to jiive a short aeeount oi' tin; j^eolojiieal surroun(hnotii species over a vast area, and also to iu)tiee some of the (|Uestioiis which they suj^ijest, such as those relat- iiifi; to the climates of the rej^ions in which these animals tlourished, the fjeolo^rical dates when they lived in the old and the new worlds, their {general ;ieoi:raphical distrihution, mijrrations, causes of their extinction, aiul other matters of j^eological imi)ortaiu'e concerning them. TlIK (^CXUKKKNCK OK A MaMMOTII TooTII ON TIIK KAST CoAST OK Hudson 1>av In 1S77 i made a geolo^qcal exploration of tin? east side of Hudson hay. I n the followiuii year a remarUaWh' molar tooth of a mammoth was picked up on the ntcky surfaceof Long island and sent to me. '{"his island is narrow, thirty miles in leiiirtli.and lies m-ar the Ivistmaiii coast, its soulhwestern extremity heinu iust north of cape .lones. which is tlic; point where James hay opei 'Oto Hudson hay propi-r. It is com- posed of almost hare rock and has a ridi;c of hasalt runninjj; down its center. Althou<,di it is south of the limit of tindter on the mainland, no trees t^row upon the island itself. At the time when mammoths lived upon the island it must have heen more or less wooded in order to fur- nish food for them, and, from our knowledge of the uprisintr of the land in this region in IMeistocene times, it pn)hahly stood at a lowi-r level, and would tluM'efore he of smaller size. I'holographs showing this tooth in dillerent positions were sent to Pro- fessor W. Uoyd Dawkins. who had made a spei'ial study of fossil ele- phants, and to i'rofessor K. D. Cope, with re([Uests for their det-isions as to the species to whic^h it heloiiged, 'I'he following are their replies : " W'ooDiii list', K.\i.i.(i\\i-ii:i,i>, Man»iik.h'I'1':i!, lolh .Inhi, ISS2. "The very inten'siiiii; s|u'ciriii'n is a worn stnni|) of an niipci- molar iit-ionjiintf to KU Ilium ciilitiiilii, an animal w iiiiii, in my ln-lief, is one of tiie varietie.4of tlie stock 0(f"ri{l!K.Vf'K ON KAST COAST. :571 from wliicli the iniunnujtli, Iiuliaii t*lt'i)liant, ainl A.', iirim iiinriin lmv»' heoii ilt-rivetl. Tln' slump is wumlerfiilly like some <>f tlic mammotli's in my ccillfftidii, lint it Ih iitiniiwfi'. " (Si^neil) \V. ituvi- Dawkinh." " I'liii.AiiKi.i'mA, />((•. Will, IHSS. " I liavi' never seen a tDutli wliirii pn'siMits all tlic in'cnliaritifs of tiiis one, l»it eacii of its cliaracti'rs can be fouml separate in dilferent teetli of the mamiiiotli. It is prolialily a last deciilnniis molar of a variety between the typical A', jirimiijr- II i UK nni\ the smooth-plateil E. ciihtiiihl. " (Sij;ne72 R. BKM. — iriDSON HAY >rAMMnTII ANI> MASTOhoS I5KMAINS. future discoveries of such renuiiiis in tins vast riitcrval some at least will prove to l)elon<^ to K. cohiitihi. Hotii /v. ciiliniilii and I'j. priiiihii'DhiM may liavo retreated sontliward in Ameriea on account of the increasing severity of the cliniate, as did tiie moose and the hison, or without any sullicient chant:c in this respect, havinj^ i)eoome accustomed to the itetter climate which they t'oniid to the south, they ahaiidoned tlu^ northern rojiions altojicther. it is to he noted that the invasion of North America hy mammoths was iVom nortii to s<)Uth, or in the opposite direction from the invasion of SiWeria. and tliis circumstance may have made an important ditl'ercnce as to the charac- ter of their sul)se(juent movements on the two continents and as to the latitudes in which they survivc(l the loufxest in the respective rctiions. Dr llujih Kalconer. who. with ample materials at his command, nave the sui)ject very careful study. rcjj;ards this elephant not as a variety of K. ]>riiiii(f('aiits, hut as helonell, of the Hudson's Hay Com- pany's serviee, with whom I liave conversed on the subjeet, tohl me that lie had found ehiphant hones in a river hank near the junetion of the Lewis and Pelly to form the Yukon. Out- of thest^ Imncs was sent to Knirhmd and idfiuilied hy Sir .lolin ilich;\rdson as helons of cU-phants projectiii>: from the clay or other superficial de|»o.sits forming the hanks. Mr llardisty .said that in the vicinity of these rivers he had frequently seen skulls of the musk-ox (often called '■ hullMlo " in the far north) lying on the sur- face of the ground, mostly in swamps and partly covered with moss. This aniniiii is not now found living west of the MeKenzie river, al- though it is (piite coiiiiuon over tiie great region to the eastward of it as far as Hudson hay and thence acro.ss the large islands lying to the north- eastward, which carry its range to nortlicrn (Ireenland. Its desertion of the country west of the MeKenzie river is one of those instances of the long-period or the tinal regitmal migrations of the larger mammals which have not yet heen satisfactorily accounted for. The late venerable .\rchdeacon U. McDoumM, whom the writer has had the pleasure of meetinr. TIm! r;infic of tlic liisoii in nutdern times has not come witliiii stivcnil liuiidrfil miles of this district. (iKOLrKilCAl, IflSToKY OK TIIK M.\STO|)o.\ AND MaMMOTII 'I'lic ('l('|iliiint fiunily mjidc its (irst ;i|i|i(!araiicc in the .Mio<'(;n(! period in .soutliciistcrn Asia. Tlu! earliest of tin; true l'roi»oscidea were (l) the Stej^odons, which were the ancestors of the mastodons, the mamni(»tlis, and the Ino.\o(h»ns, the ancesti>rs of certain fo.ssil elephants of Kurop(! and also of the African elephant. .\s time went on and new species appeared, the elephants spread from their ori\' only .">(>() feet of water, and, since a suhsidence of mor(> than this amount has taken |»lace in the Pleistocene period, there is no doulit that an isthmus connected the two continents at no distant date, and that men as well as mammoths and other aninuiLs may hav(^ walked over it. In the old world, mastoii. itincrirdiin'i) lived on, alontf with the mammotli. into the human |>eriod. Falconer says : ='= " Commencing: with tlic older strata of the siili-Aiu'iininos ami oftlic \'al d'Ariio and n.scendlii}; to the superficial gmvels or quateriiaiy deposits of coiniuirativt'ly modern orij.'iii, at least four well defined spi'ries of fossil ejepiiants iiavc l)i'en as- cei'taini'tl to iiave existeliii» {Ijojodon) imriilioiKiliK, E. u)ili:ii"il iiuMiidiis Mini notes dl' llii- late lliigli Kalioiici', A. ^i., M. 1)., viil. ii, p. .i.'il. tO).. eit., p. r.l. } Up. fit., p. 2.VJ. I I 1 i KXTINCTION <»l" MAMMALS. 'tlit ' fon-Hl lii'd" iif tlu' Norfolk imi^t diU'iiH Ichh from tlic later foriii, occiiniiij; on llie liaiiks of the Lena, than iIoch tlio latter from the comparatively moiierii mammotli of the siiperlieial l>oj.'!^ of North America, which I rey;aioin tlie firnt appearance of Proljoscideans to the Recent period, one form after another has i)asse(l away, to he succeech.'d hy anotlier, until we have arrived at the innnediate precursor of the existiiiji Indian ele- phant, which appears to lie spccilically identical with the niaininoth. Falconer insists on the importance of the fact that throuses of j^oo- lojiii-al description. No single cause may account for the extinction of the m;nnm(»th all over the world. .Vs will lie point<'d out further on, it may have heen due to the climatic changes in Siheria. while luiman airencv may have lieen the iinal cause in Europe ami North .\meriea: hut whether tlu' Indian elephant is spccilically identical with I'!, prliui- (jiiiiii-'i or not, there appi'ars to he at the present time a jieneral tendency to extinction in the existing; form, as om; which has run its course. The canseof this is not sipparent, unless it he owin^ to {\\v. well known jj;eneral law that the higher species of animals have a shorter term of existence than the lower ones, and that the period of their survival is somewhat proportionate to their rank in the scale of heing. 'Pile history of the larger mammals shows that when the geograiihical range of a species has hecome greatly diminished, with a '■oi-rcs()onding reiluction in its lunnhers, it does not recover lost ground, hut hastens to its end. These conditions now apply to the Indian elephant, whether he represents the very circumscrihed remnant of the once almost cosmo- politan mammoth or not. .Another sign of the approaching extinction of this si)ecies is its loss of reproductive vigor, as evidenced hy the tact that it will scarcely hreed at all in the state of domestication. .\s the mammoth lived contemporaneously in the ohl and new worlds *Op. eit., p. KIK. ^•" """ - 376 R. BELL — IIIDHON BAY MAMMCJTII AND MASTODON KKMAIXS. iifttM- tlie fJlac'ial period, tliore could .scarcely have been a sudden clianrincipal prey, the common American hare. Vacw the little htmmings pertbrm wonderful migrations, iin|)elled, as it were, by an irresistible impulse. The moose or .Anufrican elk (Alren (K) miles directly north of the nearest trees now growing on the Coppermiut! river and near (ircat Hear lake. The increased severity of the seasons in (Jreeidaml in historic times is another evidence of the deterioration of the suharctie clinnitc. whii'ii app(>ars to have this tendency all round the world, with perhaps ;; few local exceptions, as in one part of northwestern .Maska, due prolialily to a favorai)le change in the ix-ean current there. KxriN( TIO.N OK TMK MaMMOTU IN SlIiKlUA The mannnoth in northern Siheria prohahly passed the winters within the forest-line, where he would find shelter from the ehilling winds and where he might live wtdl, hrowsjng on the small hranchy spruce, larch, hirch, etcet(>ra. With the advent of spring he would l)egin his north- ward march, taking advantage of the long daylight, and he would spend I.Vl — Hci.i,. liKui. SiK . Am., \"I,. !i, lM!t7 P>7.S i{. I'.KM. — innsoN p.ay mammoth \Nr> >fAsT(>r><>x hkmatxs, part of tlio suiniiicr aixl the autiiiuii roving jil>out the short; of the Arctic; sea, eiijoyiriji tlie cool weatlier and lindini!; ahiuuhnit sust(;nancc on the small trees and the alder, willow, and hirch Iirnshwood. 'I'licn. with the l)ej^iiniinrAMM()Tns IN SIHKRIA. 379 lienl liiid coinprisc'il tlic wlioli! sj)ecies then living, the reindeer wuuld now 1)0 extinct. i j I PUKSKHVATION OK Till': KfJCSH OF MaMMOTMS IX SiHKKIA The preservation till the |iresent day of the He.sli of sonje of the niam- inoths which jierished in tiie reuion ahont the mouth of the Lena river and elsewhere proves that the carcasses must have lieeome frozen imme- diately after death, and this circumstance may be accounted for in the following way: If the last of these creatures .succumhed in the manner supposed, there may have Ix'en at that time a series of unusually cold years, as sometimes happens in high latitudes, and this, together with the increasing severity of the climate in general ever since, would ac- count for the preservation of some of tlieir carcasses in the snow and ice which have persisted in that region till the present time. The occurrence of large numhers of the remains of mannnoths in the alluvial depi>sits al)out the mouth of the Lena and otlier rivers ma\' he explained hy the supposition that the animals had l»roken tlirough the too thin ice in attempting to cross the streams upon it on tlieir south- Wiird migration in the autumn, and that their hodies liad subsequently floated down to the still water. Indeed, it is liighly probalile that whole herds of these animals lost their lives in this manner. While the l>ison was aliiuiilant in our northwest territories it was a matter of common occurrence for large numbers of them to be drowned when attempting to cross the streams in coinp.act droves before the ice was strong enough to bear the strain, 'i'he great abundance of bison bones in some of the rtuviatile deposits in this region is easily accounted for in this way. The mammoths, owing to their great weight, would be still more liable to such an accident. Professor Richard Lydekker, in " The Royal Nat- ural History," lately published, speaking of the trade in ivory from Siberia, says that within a recent period, coverimr twenty years, liO.tXJO mannnoths must have been discovered in that region. iMPROnABLE ThKOKIKS The .supposition that the mammoths of northern Siberia were frozen where we lind them by a sudden change from a warm to a very cold climate, and which has remained permanently so. is as untenaide as the other theory, which supposes the l)ones antl tusks found there to be those of mannnoths which were ilrowne(l in great iuimi)ers and at the same time within a limited area by a sudden catadys' " it were possible (which it is not) that such an abrupt chiingeof c • a- could happen, it would retiuire to l>e general around a great part of the globe, and there 380 H. niCIJ, — Kl'DSON I'.AY MAMMOTH AM) MASlulxtN HKMAINS. is no evuleiice that such a tliiii); occurn'd at any time in the history of tlic earth. AL'iiin. to invoke tiie a^eiK y of sudth'n cntnclysnis to account for <;eoloji;iciil [)henotnena is an explodeil notion wliich does not require discussion. l''ooi) AMI oKoiUiAi'iiicAr. Ra.\<;k ok Till-: MAMMorn I'^roin tlie remains of food foni\d witli the teetii and skeletons of tlio niasl<>(h)n and nianiinotii, it lias l»een pretty satisfactorily ascertained that in North America hoth of these animals sultsisted largely on the twigs and Ixtuuhs of nortliei'n trees, such as tlie spruces ( Picca) and white ceihir {TImjd, occidentalin), togetluM", prolialtly. witii those of other north- ern trees and hushes, and no doulit the food of the Sjlicrian mammoth was of the same nature. Their lai'gegrindc^rs and powerful muscles were adnurahly adapted to reduce such materials to a jtulp. IJoth the Afri- can and Indian elephants are " coarse fee«lers.'' living principally upon the hranches and hark of trees and hushes, and tlie mammoth, wlu'rever he wandered, would reipiire to sid)sist upon such kimls of food of this (U'scription as the country he might he in ]»roduced. '* We further know that when the mammoth pastured along the mar- gins of the great swamps of Ohio and Kentucky the vegetation then was nearly identical with what it is now. heing very dillerent from that of Silteria " (Hugh Kaleoner). The same writer,* referring to FJcphtis firinii- (jcniits, says of it: "A scope in space and time, taken together, lias heen assigned without a parallel, I l)elieve, within the whole range of the mammalia, fossil or recent. DWrchiac, in liis excellent ' Histoire des Progres.' so late as 1.S4S, gives a hrief summary of the localites in which the remains of the mammoth (A', prlinhiinins) have heen said to occur, nanud}', from the British islands across the whole of the temperate zone of Europe and Asia and along all the coasts and islands of the IcN' sea as far as the frozen cliil's of the east coast of leering strait, in Kschscholtz hay, in Russian America as high as G()° of north latituile, over most of the United States of America, in the great valley of the Mississippi, and along the coasts of the guUdf Mexico. De Ulainville, going a step he- yond most of the paleontologists, douhtingly rttferred the fossil remains of elephants found so ahundantly in tropical India to the same species- thus assigning at least half of the hal)ital)le glolu for the pasture ground of the mammoth." Wooi.LV Coat ok tiii; Sihkhian Mammoth The wool and long hair found upon the Siherian mammoths prove * I'^ilM'iiMtolu^irul iiii'liiniis :M|i| Hull's ot llii' l:iti' lliiifli l'':ili'ii|ii'r. I.kIkIiiii, 1.si;n, Mil. ji. p. 77. i WOOI.I.Y COAT (»K SinKltlAN MAMMOTH. 381 % I I that they had hocii aocustoiucd for a irroat h'liirth of time to ii sovcre cliiiiiite. Althouf^h tlic Indian eh>|iliiint inhaltits a warm country, it in a well known fact that he is intolerant of i;ion, in the far northwest of Canada, and on the east coast of Hudson l)ay is of much intensst. Tin; irreat leiiirth and the (loniplete curve of the tusks of these animals slu)w that they were only fitted for traveling in such reiiions or in very open woods. They would he able to make little or no proerved on Nottingham island, in IFudson strait, a curious fa(!t bearin.i ou this (juestion in connection with the antlers of the rein- deer. On the mainland, wlicrc these deer may require to traverse the thick forest in some part of their migrations, their antlers, although much larger and longer than those of the woodland reindeer or caribou, are straight at the ti[)s ami of such a form as to be readily dragged through the branches of trees; but on the large island referred to there are no trees of any kind and the antlers of the deer are more spreading, while the tines are strongly curved or hooked. These j)eculiarities may be merely ornamental or they may be of service to the animal in some other way, liut it would be impossiirle for him to get through any t'orest. The peculiarities of the tusks of the mammoth, which have been already referred to, would not only prevent the creature from traveling in thick woods, but they wt)uld also render the tusks useless for digging up trees, which is the principal use to which l)oth .\frican and Indian elephants put their straighter tusks. These characters would also indicate that the mammoth was adapted only tor living where it was not necessary to dig at the roots of trees and to pull them down, but in some region where he might obtain all the l)rush he re(|uired,as lui could on the ex- tensive northern plains of both continents in sunnner, as well as among the small branchy trees at the edge of the forests in winter. The fact j ! (»((rHI{KN< K NKAU Sdl'IIIKKN KNU or .lAMKS IS.AY. 'iSIJ tliat ill this haltitiit tlu; "irouiiil woiilM In- t'l'D/fii lor the LMratiT part <•!" the year is another reason why he would not ns(! iiis tusivs lor (lijr^iing. 'I'mk Occi'uuKMK OK Mastodon FIkmains s\:\u t\\\: soitmkhn EXTIMCMITY OK .IaMKS Hav When at moose factory, at the sontliwestcrn extremity of .lames l>ay. in tlie autunni of 1S77, I was |iresente(l l)y MrS. K. I'arson, the ehief j| factor in charj^e, with a very [KM-fect tooth of a masto(h)n. whicli had l)cen ohtnined shortly l»efore my visit in the Ix'd of the Moose river, at its first hend helow the junction of the Missinail)i and M;»ttiitranii to form this trunk stream. The h)cality is 4(i mih'S in a strai<^ht hne southwest- ward from moose factory and has an elevation of al)Out !.")() feet aliove the sea. In the middle of summer of that year, the stream was very low, and an Indian passintr down in his canoe happiMied to see a very larife l)one, which turned out to ])e a mastodon's jaw, lyinj^ in the shallow water. Settinif it on end heside his canoe, he chopped out tliis tootli with his hatchet, and then allowed the jaw to drop hack into the river. The 5 molar is of a medium size and is very well preserved. It has nine (!on- ical ])oints or tulxrcles, all of which are entirely covered with enamel. At tlu^ same time that T ohtained this tooth I was informed hy .Mr I'ar- son that some years previously a party of Indians had found some larjre l)ones in the IxmI of the Al)itilii river, Ipctwceii the lowest on Sextant rapids and its junction with Moose river. wlii<-h occurs .it is miles ;il>ove ^ Moose factory. From the (k'scription, 1 juilized them at tiie time to he I elephantine remains. Tlie Sextant rapids :\re iit the upper end of the first stretch of the .Vhitihi river after leaviuu' its mouth. The superficial >i deposits are of the .same character alonji this str(!tch ;is on the main Moos(^ river for many miles al)ove and helow the junction of tin; two streams. Tmk Pi.kistocknk Dki'osits soutiiwkst ok Jamks Hay In order the hetter to surmise the conditions and the f;eolo<;ical time of the existence of the mastodon in the region around the southern ex- tremity of James hay, I should here ^ive a short description of the Pleis- tocene deposits and of the <,a'neral character of the district. tiuaternary clays eontaininif recent marine shells extend as far, at least, as the Sextitnt rapids, and fragments of lignite washed out of these deposits were observed along the margins of the river in this section. The upward general course of Moose river, which is continued hv the I)S4 K. IU;i,l. — III DSO.N HAY MAMMOTH A.Mi MAS'lnlxtN KKMAINS. Missiiiiiibi, (Voiu Moose factory. ■'■ wliicli staiuls about 7 miles in from tlie moiitli, is s(mth\vest for I"J7 miles to I'ouikI liay, at tlie foot of the Ar- elweau [)iateau. where it turns south. The rate of rise in the river-hed from the head of tide, 1) miles aI»ove Moose factory, to this point is esti- mated to l)e lietween .'! and \ feet to the mile, which would maki; the I'le- vation at the iMid of this distance lietween 400 auaiiy river, wliidi Mows Into tlie western si(l(! of Janies buy. iind also on its ".'real soiilln'ni liram-li. llir Keno;fiiini, the hanks, as well as the deposits of wiiirh tiiev are coniposecl, are similar ti> those of Moose river ami its l>ranclies. I estimated the elevation of tiie hiirhest and most in- land locality at which I found marine shells on the Kenoirami to he 4-">() feet aliovc the se.i* The AttawapisUat is the lari^esi river tlowin;; into .lames hay north of the All>any. I surveyed this stream for upward of ;>lll) nules from the sea, and althoU'^di it Hows throULdi a level country and has low liaidcs, 1 did not detect marine shells at any ;j;reat distance iVom the head of tide. .\lthoii;^li the existence of liunite //* s//// in the superfn-ial deposits of the All>a,ny and Ahitihi rivers may he inferred from the occurrence of loose pieces of it alonii their shores, heds of this suhstance have as yet heen iioticed only on the Kenoi:ami and the Missinaihi. On the former stream it was louiid in the Ixittom of an old channel excavated in the till and attain lillcd up liy houlder clay.f This hed contained sticks of coniferous woods and of the canoe hii'ch. l>ut no animal remains were deti'cted in it. .\lon;f the Missinaihi, Ix'ds of liunitc were seen at a numlier of places all the way from the foot of the Archean plateau to the junction of the .Mattajianu. The lirst of these was in the west hank of a southern hranch called Coal hrook, threeciuarters of a mile from the main river. This l)ed is three feet or more in thickness, is underlaid hy soft sticky hlue clay, and overlaid Ity ahout 7<' Icct of till, full of small pelildes, passiii.ij iiilo t^ravcl at the to[>. This liL^niti; contains a little iron pyrites, and much of it retains a distinct woopa/.atika river, another lied of lij.'nite occurs in the hank on the same side. It is six feet thick. l)Ut ilimiiiishes to the eastward, and is of a slialy character, heiiig made upof laniiiiif of moss and sticks. Iiniuediately beneath the liijnite is a layer *(t(•l)lo^i(■lll Survey Ri'port for lK71-'7^, p. Il'i. tOnologiwil Survey |{e|ioit for 1m71-'7'J. I.\ll — lk'1,1,. (iFui,. Sdc. Am., Viii.. !l, 18117 ?* ~ -1 " ' jr^* v . * ' ' " 1 ■ ■ ■ * i * I I ti. - 880 H. ISKI.I. — III DSON r.AV MAMMOTH ANH MASTOIioN HKMAINS. ') feet hij:li, are U) feet of hanl ilrah clay, witliHtriatcd pchhlcHund HMiall hoiilder*' and holding; rather larjic valvcn of ■Si.c/citci rnijnmi, M icdiiii. fulrnrin { 'rilliiin iirtuinid), and .'///<( Intni'iilii. Small si'ams of lij^nitu were si'un in two |)lai'cs in tiic hank on llic same Hi> miles ai)ove this stream tlu' whole hed of the river appears to he underlaid hy liu'uite. When sounch-d with a heavy pole, it has an j'lastic feel and irives off laii^e volumes of i,'as, which may also lie si-en at any time hul)l)lint{ up s|)ontane(aisly here and tiiere all alon^' this part of the river. Tliis phenomenon has heen oliserved iiy (he Indians from time innneinorial, and the locality has rei'eived the name of ''I'lic I'luhlilinu' Water."" * At tlie foot oi tlt(! loiit;' |)orta,ii(' <>'i Missiiiail)! river, which is tour and ii hali'iuile.s within tho Archeaii l>()f(ler, or tliat (listiiiice soutli of Uouiid bay, at the head of the loii^ soiitliwe.stwurd .stretch al»ove de.serihed, tlu'fe is a eoiisi(h'rah]e thicisiiess of tine silt in thin layers, with moss and remains (>•" tVesii-water inarsli plants lietweeii most of them. 'I'lit; mean heic;bt of thc! deposit is aliout '••<) I'eet ahovi' the level of the highest oe- currenee of the marine shells hefore mentioned, or jiroliaidy aliout ")5() feet ahove the sea. At the time of the postnlaeial sulimeriienee tiiis de- po.sit may have iieen t'orminj;- at what was then the moiitli of the Mis- sinail)i river, whik^ the whole of the Paleozoic plain lietween it ai\d .lames hay was covered hy thc sea. The depo.sits which have heen descrilied cover a very extensive dis- trict, namely, thc low (U)untry emhraccnl liy a semicircular (Uirve in the •ffeat .\rchean plateau, extending "JOO miles southwest from .lames hay. 'This tract is all underlaibably all belong to basins of lim- ited exttMd. The one which has been reterred to a.s occurring in the bottom of a drii't-tilletl valley which had been excavated in older till on the Kenogami river, and also most of the beds along the Mi.|i(irl fur ls7T-'7.><, p. 4 V. J MASToi»()\ i{i:m.\ins in MAMIOI'.A. 887 placial. Tlio .strati(i<'«l (le|n»sits with wliicli tin- liiriiitfs aro associatcti art', ii) [lart at least, inariiie, as proved l»y the shells which they eontain. Pkuidd wiii:n riir; MAsroituN i.ivkh iikhk 'I'he iiiastoilDiis jaw ilesciiiied almve, haviiiii i>een tdiiiiil loose in the lied of the river, may liave heeii washed out of these hanks and tlius he of either iiiterirlaeial or postiilacial date: init it had not siillered any wear, the tooth heinii fresh and perfect, and it shows no si hclon;j; to a. mastodon, were found hy In- dians in the iiottom of the valley of Shell riv(M'. at its junction with its east Itranch. This stream is itself an (iastern hranch of the .Assinilioine- and it takes its rise in the hii^h ground to the west of lake Wiunipegosis. The river-llat at the spot where the mastodon remains were found lias an (ilevation of ■_*.(•.')() leet al>ove the sea. according to .Mr .1. I>. Tyrrell.'i- The scapula' were the only portions of thi.s skeleton which ri'ached Kng- land. and they were examined l)y Sir .loim llicharilson. who at lirst gave the species to which they lielonged the provisional name of I'Jtpliic^ riqirrlidiiiis, hut afterwanls. on making critical comparisons with the bones ol" other fossil elephants, he wrt)te : ■■'I'lic |>n)lialiility, tlicrcfori', is that tlic Swan river (/. «.,S\\aii liiver liislricti liiiiies l)elnn'_'t'cl to the Muxlmlnii iii(/iiiih !!>:. and thai the iaim<' of that s|ifi'ies must he e\tcii(leil nortliwanl in l{u|)ert's himl to the lifly-seeoiid |iaiallel of latitinle, whiit' tile pruvisioiial <;eu^raj)hical ilesigiiutioii of l-yijihns vnpi i-liniiint must l)e e.\- pinit,'iMl." t l)i;i'osrrs in wiiifii tiik .Masiohon I'.onics wi:iti'; hhni> in 1874 I examined the Assinihoine river all the way from Fort I'elly to Fort F^llice and also a part uf Shell river, and sent my as.si.stant, iJr * l!«'|)i>i't (if tlio (ifolopir'al Survoy ofCuimilii fur Lsiiii-'ul, p. Viw K. tZ(iolu);y i.f 111.' VoVMi?.' <>( 11. M. S, Ihiiil-l iluiliiy; tlif yi'iU's IslVM. I...ii.1m1i. I.omII I!,-cvo, l.x:.l, li|.. In|. HI. :!HS It. lilM.I, — llfltSON liW \I\MM(»IM AMI M.\srol»«»N KKMAINS. .1. W. S|>(Mi('fi'. t'lirtlitr ii|> lilt' liiltcr .-.ticiiin. As the ml'*' <>!' tlu' (Icposit ill wliicli tlicsu iiuistiidtiii rciiiMiiis were luiiiul iiiid tlu' nature ol'llu' sur- rouiKliii;; couiitn' wciv inipoitaiil in connection wit'.i the (liset)very, 1 qnote I )r Spencer's re|ioi( to ine on these points ;■'• " The valley i.f llie A>siiiilMiiin' ailjacciit to thai >>{' the Shell i ivcr is al'uiit a mil*' wiileaml sdiiie '.'(Kt fiTl .Icep. The alluvial Hat at thehotli f the valley is threc- (|iiarters \>{ a mile wiile, ami the hanks rise steeply on eitlu-r siile. Thruiiiih this level Hat the river pursues a meanderiuu; enurse from side to wide, oeeasionally leaping; a small rapii I caused hy the nhslructiou of Laureutiaii houlders. Twenty miles further uji, the valley is nearly ;! nnles wide, hut at this place, in the hottom and followintr the valley loniritudinally, there an- 4 or 5 nericH of hills, risinj; irrej;- ularly one ahove the other, till the hi>;hest reaclio nearly to the level of the plain ahove. iJetween llii'se hills thei-e are small deeji valleys. The western hank is often stri'wn with ;.'ravel and houlders, while the Hats helow ai'e neaily free from them, excepting in places alon-j Mie hed of the river. The sides of the valley are often dei'|ily i;or<;ed, hut the ravines do not extend to any j.'real distance hack from the valley. Many of them appear to have heen cut out hy the waters from sprinirs. Tlu'se sj)rinortion tlu' ri\ei' Hows in a valley nearly as wide ainl ilee|) as that of the Assini- boine. The izeiieral course is ni'arly from the umth. At the Ik :i have swept over small areas. The Shell river is mticli more rapid than the .Vssiuihoiiu', and the sides of the valley are much more dei'ply irort^eil than those of the latter river. At the landslidi's aloiij,' the Shell liver I oh.'^erved a few stratilii-d deposits, hut tlu'V "generally show I'd only a hetero<,'eneous unxture of jiravelly earth, with houltlers. . . . " If the rivers which now How throuirh them have excavated tliesi; valleys, the former must he of i,'reat anti(|uity. The valleysare yearly hecominu; larriiiy; floods bearing away irreat i|uaiitities of material. Kverywlu're alonji tlie river hanks there are eviileiices of former landslides. . . . The deposits of the Shell River valley freipiently consist of irrej,'ular ht'ds of clay, with houlders, while aloiij? the alluvial Hat of the .-VHsinihoine they cousi.st of rej^idarly stratitied clays. The smumits and sides of the banks of both streams are y;enerally covered w ith boulders. " In the more recent deposits of the Siiell River valley an Imliau is said to bavi' found, a few years ago, some large bones, which weri' at the time sent to Fort ■ liepurt nl'tln' (iooidnii.-iil Siu'vi'y of (';\u:icl;i for I8TI-T.'i, pp. .'iN iiiul 1.3. I noxKs (»N siii:!.i. i;ivi;i{. 380 Kllicf ami aricrwiiidH to Imi^iIiukI. 'I'Iichc ivniainH wtTi- ilesi-rilu'il to nu' l)y a niaii wliu had sci'ii tlicm, ami alxn tin- plafi* wlit'iici- tlioy ouiiif. Tlii'y iipficar ti» liiivtt hcfll laiV'c i'Iliiii).'li fn liavr lu'loll^rcil to I'JIriihiiH." Ill tlicsuiuiiicr of ISST Mr. I. B. 'rvrroll, of tlio (ieoloiiical Survoy, made a fiirtlitT t'x;uiiin:.ti(»ii of Shrll rivrr. Ilic results of which an; |nihlislu'(l ill the IU;|t()rl of tiii! hcpiirlMKnit for l -•, supposed to he those of eh-phant.-, had heen found at Sand Iliil lake, near the (,'Il)o\v of the South Saskatchewan river, and also on the surface of the ground on W'iiite Mml river, a small triiiutary of tiie .Missouri on the west side of the Cypress hills,t hut I have never heen ahle to verify these reports. DiscovKiUKs oi'^ Er.Ki'iiANT RiOM.MNs i.v oriiioit Pakts ok C.\N.\I).\ Numerous discoveries of remains of hoth mammoths and mastodons have heeti made at various times durinjj; the past seventy years in the province of Ontario, hut with one exception they all occurred in tlie district south of a straiL'ht line drawn west from 'I'oronto to the outlet of lake Huron. The exception was the finding of the greater part of the skeleton of a very large mammoth in a swamp on lot 1), range VII, of the t()wnshi|) of .\maranth, county of Wellington, at ahout oO miles northwest of Toronto. .\ tusk found with this skeleton was reported to measure S inches in diameter and 14 feet in length. In Ontario the remains of the ahove animals have always heen found umler similar conditions and in very recent ileposits. In a few instances they have heen met with in gravel and sand. At Burlington heights, at t Ui'iHirt uf till' GiMilofjicMl Sinvoy of ('iiiiml:i fur I,sT3, pp. 7:i, ~l. *Op. cit., p. lii'J K. 390 U. nVAA. — iriDSON I5AV M.UfMOTir AND MASTODON REMAINS. the western extremity of luke Ontario, tlie Ixines and tusks of a larL'e matnniotli were found in l.S4Sin an ancient lieacli deposit. -'IT feet helow the surfaee and at an t'U'vation of 7