1. Bogue Chitto, Dallas County.—The U. S. National Museum contains 3 or 4 fragments of large molars of Mammut americanum found not far from the town named. One fragment is labeled as having been found in section 10, township 17 north, range 7 east. This would probably be 6 or 7 miles west of north from the town named. Another fragment is said to have been found in the bed of Bogue Chitto. The teeth were sent to the U. S. Geological Survey by Crawford P. Lewis. From this same region there have been collected remains of Elephas imperator and Equus leidyi.
1. Perthshire, Bolivar County.—In the U. S. National Museum is a fragment, the rear end, of an upper left hindermost molar of Mammut americanum, received from Perthshire in August 1914. It is the gift of Mr. S. D. Knowlton and was reported as having been sucked up with gravel from the bed of Mississippi River. This place is in the northern part of Bolivar County and immediately south of latitude 34°.
2. Caseilla, Tallahatchie County.—The writer has seen a lower left last molar of a mastodon, found in 1915, near this place. It was sent to the U. S. National Museum for identification by Dr. B. Franklin, of Caseilla. He stated that the tooth had been found in Avant Creek, about 3 miles above its entrance into Yalobusha River, apparently in the southeastern corner of Tallahatchie County, in township 23 north, range 7 west. The tooth had been buried in joint clay. The banks of the creek are usually about 10 feet high, but where the tooth was found, on the south side of the creek, the bluff is about 50 feet high.
3. Jackson, Hinds County.—In the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia is a lower left last milk molar, presented by Dr. Isaac Lea and reported to have been found near Jackson, Mississippi. No additional information was furnished. The tooth is but slightly worn and has complete roots.
4. Vicksburg, Warren County.—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 344) is a fragment of an upper right last molar, said to have been found at Vicksburg. The fragment consists of the hindermost crest and the talon. In Wailles’s report on the geology of Mississippi, 1854, page 284, there is a statement to the effect that mastodon remains had been found in the deep cut of the railroad at Vicksburg.
5. Bovina?, Warren County.—In Wailles’s report, just cited, it is stated that mastodon bones had been found in the vicinity of Big Black River, near the eastern line of Warren County. While the statement is rather indefinite, the locality is probably somewhere in the region about Bovina, on the railway from Vicksburg to Jackson.
6. Claiborne County.—According to Dr. Leidy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, p. 111), portions of jaws with teeth of mastodons have been found in this county, associated with a skull of a bear which he could not distinguish from that of Ursus americanus.
7. Jefferson County.—In Wailles’s report of 1854 (p. 284), already cited, it is stated that remains of the mastodon had been found in this county, near the former town of Greenville. The writer has not been able to learn more exactly where this town was situated.
8. Natchez, Adams County.—The region about Natchez is a fertile one for remains of mastodons and various other fossil vertebrates. The first mention of the finding of fossils here appears to be a note by S. L. Mitchill in 1826 (Cat. Organ. Remains, p. 10), who presented two teeth to the Lyceum of Natural History, New York. G. Troost, in 1835 (Trans. Geol. Soc. Penn., vol. I, p. 143), stated that he had in his cabinet a tooth of a mastodon, found near Natchez.
In 1845 (Proc. 6th Meet. Assoc. Amer. Geologists and Naturalists, pp. 77–79), M. W. Dickeson read a paper on the geology of the Natchez bluffs, in which he mentioned the occurrence of mastodons.
In 1846 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1846, p. 106), the same writer exhibited at the Academy a large collection of fossil bones which had been made near Natchez. His account treats especially of the remains of Megalonyx jeffersonii and a human pelvis; but it is mentioned that the deposit abounds in bones and teeth of the mastodon. Dickeson stated that the stratum which contained these organic remains is a tenacious blue clay which underlies what he called the diluvial drift east of Natchez. This “drift” is now regarded as being mostly loess.
Lyell, in 1846 (Second Visit to U. S. N. A., ed. 2, vol. II, p. 195), wrote that mastodon remains had been found in the loam (loess) which contained land-shells at different depths.
Hilgard in 1860 (Geol. Agric. Mississippi, p. 196) gives a list, furnished by Dr. Leidy, of the mammalian fossils which had been found “in a solid blue clay said to belong to this formation” (the Bluff formation). Mastodons are said to be by far the most common. At Pine Ridge, 6 miles north of Natchez, in townships 7 and 8 north, range 3 west, mastodons and other mammals occurred at a depth of about 20 feet from the surface, in a ravine. The list referred to was quoted from Wailles’s report of 1854 (Agric. Geol. Mississippi, pp. 285, 286).
Leidy, in 1889 (Trans. Wagner Inst., vol. II, p. 9), in speaking of the occurrence of human remains at Natchez, referred to the occurrence of the mastodon at this place. McGee, in 1891 (12th Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv., pt. I, p. 399), in discussing the geological conditions at Natchez, stated that several nearly perfect skulls of the mastodon and at least one of the American elephant had been discovered at Natchez. His idea was that some of these remains had been found in the brown loam and some in the gravelly beds well down toward the Port Hudson clays.
In his discussion of the loess at Natchez, Shimek, in 1904 (Bull. Labs. Nat. Hist., Univ. Iowa, p. 305), expressed doubt about the occurrence of mastodons and other vertebrates in the loess.
In the collection at Yale University is a large lower jaw of Mammut americanum, labeled as found at Natchez. Both rami are represented and each has in it the second and third molars. The hindermost molar is but little worn. The second molar is 115 mm. long and 87 mm. wide, the third molar 188 mm. long and 93 mm. wide. The spout at the front of the jaw is cut off square and is rough, but there are no sockets for tusks.
For further consideration of the Pleistocene geology at Natchez and a list of the species of vertebrates found there, the reader is referred to pages 389 to 393.
9. Pinckneyville, Wilkinson County.—On page 284 of Wailles’s report of 1854 he stated that mastodon bones had been obtained in Bayou Sara, near Pinckneyville.
10. Between Zeiglerville and Pearce, Yazoo County.—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 10275) is a right ramus of the lower jaw of a mastodon, found on the farm of Mr. R. L. Fisher, about 8 miles northwest of Vaughan. This jaw was sent to the U. S. National Museum by Mr. R. H. Douthat, secretary of the Yazoo Commercial Club, of Yazoo City. The specimen had been washed out of its place of burial along a creek. From Mr. Fisher the writer has received the information that the jaw was found along Teshacah Creek, in section 9, township 12 north, range 1 east. It appears to have been buried at a depth of about 15 feet.
The length of the jaw from the rear to the front of the penultimate molar is 630 mm., to the front of the beak 808 mm. A part of the front of the jaw has been broken off during exhumation, as shown by the photographs. The height at the middle of the length is 195 mm. The coronoid process rises 400 mm. above the lower border of the jaw. There are present the hindermost and the penultimate molars. The hindermost is 220 mm. long and has five crests and a low rough talon. In the front of the jaw is a part of the socket for an incisor tusk which had a diameter of about 40 mm. Apparently the jaw is to be referred to Mammut progenium.
11. Woodville, Wilkinson County.—From Mr. W. L. Ferguson, of Woodville, the writer has received a letter, with a photograph showing jawbones, with teeth, of one or more mastodons found near Woodville. Some fragments of tusks, a part of a skull, and some vertebræ were also found. The information is sent that these remains were buried under 30 feet of deposit. They were found on the bank of Dunbar Creek, a tributary of Bayou Sara, in township 1, range 3, section 24.
On pages 385 to 389 will be treated the geology of this region; but at the present it would be unsafe to refer these mastodons to any particular stage of the Pleistocene.
1. Kingsport, Sullivan County.—The writer was informed by Mr. George P. Torbett, a newspaper man, that D. M. Lafitte, of Bristol, Tennessee, had a tooth of a mastodon, found near Kingsport. Mr. Torbett had seen the tooth and recognized its similarity to a mastodon tooth shown him.
2. St. Clair, Hawkins County.—Dr. S. W. McCallie, State Geologist of Georgia, waiting in 1892 (Science, vol. XX, p. 333), reported that a mastodon tooth had been found somewhere in that county. On making inquiry of Dr. McCallie the writer received the information that the tooth was found about 3.5 miles nearly due east from St. Clair and about 7 or 8 miles south of Rogersville. The tooth was presented to the University of Tennessee.
3. Mossy Creek, Jefferson County.—The writer has received from Mr. W. C. Bayless the information that a mastodon tooth had been found 3 miles south of the place named. The more exact locality is given as the farm of John Silver, 0.75 mile north of Bays Mountain. The tooth was discovered under a white oak stump, at a depth of 6 feet. It was 7.5 inches long and had 5 cross-crests.
4. Dandridge, Jefferson County.—The geologist G. Troost, writing in 1835 (Trans. Geol. Soc. Pa., vol. I, p. 142), stated that he had in his cabinet a tooth of a mastodon from the locality named.
5. Neuberts Springs, 7 miles Southeast of Knoxville.—Doctor McCallie, as cited above, reported the discovery of four molars of a mastodon in a fair state of preservation at a point 7 miles southeast of Knoxville. They were found beneath 30 inches of a yellow tenacious clay, in which occurred water-worn stones. In a communication to the writer, Dr. McCallie indicates that the remains had been buried at a time when Tennessee River flowed at a higher level than at present.
6. Eleven miles West of Nashville, Davidson County.—From Mr. William A. Nelson, a member of the Tennessee Geological Survey, the information has been received that some mastodon remains, including teeth, had been found 11 miles west of Nashville, just west of Mill Creek and about 200 yards from Cumberland River. The remains occurred in a very tough yellowish clay which occupied a solution channel in the Carter Creek limestone. This was at a depth of about 15 feet from the surface.
Under this number may be recorded the finding of a part of a lower molar of a young mastodon near Nashville, sent to the writer for examination by Mr. W. E. Myer, of Nashville, in 1920. It had been found in the north bank of Cumberland River, about 300 yards upstream from Lock A, in a bed of sand beneath nearly 30 feet of gravel. With it were found a calcaneum of a camel and some fragments of a shell of a turtle. In a thin bed of gravel just below this were discovered a tooth of Equus leidyi, a femur of a probably larger horse, and an antler of a small probably undescribed deer. Apparently these fossil-bearing deposits belong somewhere near the Aftonian interglacial stage. Remarks on the geology of this locality will be found on page 399.
7. Williamson County, 11 miles Southeast of Nashville.—The geologist Troost (vol. cit., p. 139) recorded the finding of mastodon bones and teeth in the region noted. The locality was said to be about 0.5 mile from Liberty meeting-house. It must be in the extreme northeastern corner of Williamson County. In another spot not far away were found a tusk and a part of a tooth.
8. Fayetteville, Lincoln County.—From Mr. Wilbur A. Nelson, above mentioned, the writer learned in 1913 that Mr. W. F. Myer, of Carthage, had dug up, near Fayetteville, about two-thirds of the skeleton of a mastodon. Nothing more has been learned about this.
9. Memphis, Shelby County.—In 1850 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 2, vol. X, p. 57), Dr. Jeffries Wyman reported that teeth of a mastodon had been found somewhere about Memphis. They were supposed to have been obtained from the diluvium of Mississippi River, and were found associated with Castoroides, Castor, and Megalonyx.
1. Ludlow, Kenton County.—In the Sunday Star of Washington, D. C., for January 3, 1919, there appeared a reproduction of a photograph of a tusk, believed to belong to a mastodon, which had been found at Ludlow, opposite the lower end of Cincinnati. It was unearthed by the steam shovel in the course of excavating for the Southern Railroad, at a depth of 35 feet, in a gravel bank. It is reported to have a length of 6 feet 10 inches and a diameter of 7 inches. A part of the distal end is missing. According to the photograph, the tusk forms somewhat more than half the circumference of a circle whose radius is about 23.5 inches. The curvature and the thickness, as compared with the length, appear to indicate that it belonged to a mastodon, but the identity is not certain.
2. Bigbone Lick, Boone County.—At this place there have been collected an almost incredible number of teeth, skulls, and other bones of Mammut americanum; and these have been sent to many museums of this country and Europe. While skulls are said to have been found, no complete skeletons have ever been collected. In 1805, Dr. B. S. Barton (Med. Phys. Jour. Phila., vol. I, pp. 154–159) wrote of bones he had seen from this place. He quoted from a letter written by John Bartram to James Logan. Some Shawanese Indians had brought to Pittsburgh a tooth and a piece of tusk. They described a head as having a long nose and a mouth on the underside. They reported that there were at the Lick five whole skeletons; also a shoulder-blade which, when stood on end, came to the shoulders of a tall man. What they regarded as the long nose may be interpreted as a tusk. Probably some tons of mastodon bones have been collected at this place, but it is quite certain that nearly the whole of this important material has been lost. Further reference to the locality, its geology, and the species collected there will be made on pages 401 to 404, map 41.
3. Bluelick Springs, Nicholas County.—From an excavation made at this place by Mr. Thomas W. Hunter, in an attempt to restore the springs which supplied the once popular watering-place, there were taken a large quantity of bones of various animals, perhaps as much as two farm-wagon loads. The greater number of these bones belonged to the mastodon. Portions of skulls were found, but no complete skull. There were in the collection perhaps 100 mastodon teeth and many tusks, but some of these may have belonged to elephants. In some cases the tusks show at the distal end evidences of abrasion by use. Several tusks are planed off on opposite sides, as if they had lain buried in the bottom of a stream, had been worn down flat by sand and gravel, and had then been turned over and planed on the other side. In Mr. Hunter’s collection, seen by the writer, there are small tusks, probably deciduous upper or lower ones, which vary from 87 mm. to 115 mm. in length. Each one is slightly flattened, and has an outer layer of hard dentine or possibly enamel, which is smooth. When this has peeled off the underlying dentine is grooved and ridged longitudinally. The transverse diameters vary from 20 to about 27 mm. Some of these small tusks are straight, others are slightly curved. On page 405 will be given a list of the associated animals and remarks on the geology.
4. Harrisonville, Harrison County.—In the U. S. National Museum is a lower left penultimate molar of a mastodon said to have been found somewhere near this place. It was presented by Hon. M. L. Ross, through Mr. R. L. Garner. No details are known. The village mentioned is said to be near Cynthiana, but it is not on the maps at hand.
5. Fayette County.—In Kentucky University there is a lower left hindermost molar of a mastodon, labeled as having been found somewhere in the county.
6. Drennon Springs, Henry County.—In 1881, Mr. G. K. Greene, (2d Ann. Rep. Bur. Statist. and Geol. Indiana, 1880, p. 428) stated that the collection of the State University of Indiana contains a remarkably fine half of a lower jaw of a mastodon, found at the place named. Nothing more is known about it. In 1831, C. S. Rafinesque (Monthly Amer. Jour. Geol., vol. I, p. 354) wrote that “Drennon’s Licks had bones and mounds,” indicating that at that early time fossil bones had been found there.
7. Louisville, Jefferson County.—In 1835, Dr. Richard Harlan (Med. and Phys. Res., p. 256) referred to statements made to the effect that several mastodon skeletons had been found in digging the canal around the falls of the Ohio, at Louisville. They were taken from the river banks, at a depth of several feet beneath the present soil. It was added that several pairs of tusks were arranged in a circle within which were remains of a fire and Indian tools. The authority for this story is hardly what one could desire.
8. Smithland?, Livingston County.—In the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia is a part of a lower left hindermost mastodon molar, labeled as having been found at the mouth of Cumberland River. It is credited to Dr. P. B. Goddard. No details have been preserved. Smithland is at the mouth of Cumberland River, but how far away from this town the tooth was found is not known.