Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1875-04-04
The Mammoth,
(Elphas primigenius.)


nous tusks, much more curved than those
of existing species. The remains of this
animal, which became quite extinct in
Europe at so early period that not the
slightest tradition of its former existence
has survived, are found in the Old World
from the northernmost parts of Siberia
to the extreme west of Europe; it ranged
as far southwark as the north of Italy
but does not seem to have existed south
of the Pyrenees Bones of the mammoth
also occur in North America from Behr-
ing Strait to South Carolina. These
elephants abounded in Siberia, where
their carcasses repeatedly have been
found imbedded in ice, the flesh and skin
still well preserved. Toward the begin
ming of this century Tungusian hunter
discovered one inclosed by ice near the
mouth of the river Lena. He waited I'M
til the animal had become exposed by the
melting of its icy shroud, and then cut
off its tusks, which he sold for fifty ru-
bles. The flesh of the body afforded for
some time food to the dogs kept by the
people of the neighborhood, and to white
bears, wolves, foxes and other wild
beasts, until finally Mr.. Adams. a mem
Der of the Academy of st. Petersburg,
who travelled in that direction, put stop
to these ravages, and took pains to save
the remains from further destruction. The
skeleton was almost complete, excepting
fore-leg which the animals of prey had
carried off. According to the assertion
of the Tungusian discoverer," says Prof
Owen, "the animal was so fat that his
belly hung down below the joints of his
knees. This mammoth was male, with
long name on the neck; the tail was
much mutilated. only eight out of the
twenty eight caudal vertebra remaining
the proboscis was gone, but the places Of
the insertion of its muscles were visible
on the skull; the skin, Of which about
three fOurths were saved, was OF a dark
grey color, covered with reddish wool
and coarse long black hairs. The damp.
ness of the spot where the animal had
lain so long had, in some degree, destroyed
the hair. The entire skeleton, from the
fore part of the skull to the end of the
mutilated tail, measured sixteen feet -four
inches; its height was nine feet foui
inches. The tusks measured along the
curve nine feet six inches, and in a straight
line from the base to the point three feet
seven inches. Mr.. Adams detached the
skin on the side on which the animal had
lain, which was we'll preserved; the
weight of the skin was such that ten per-
sons found great difficulty in transport
ing it to the shore After this the ground
was dug in different places to ascertain
whether any of its bones had been buried,
but principally to collect all the hairs
which the white bears had trod into the
ground while devouring the flesh, and
more than thirty-six pounds weight OF
hair was thus recovered. The tusks
were purchased at Yakutsk, and the
whole then expedited to st. Petersburg
the skeleton is now mounted in the Mu-
scum of the Metropolitan Academy" III
Mammoth bones are found in great
numbers in Siberia, and the tusks from a
valuable article of commerce, furnishing
the so-called fossil ivory. Thousands OF
tusks have been collected and used in
turning, yet Others are still procured and
sold in great plenty. The mammoth
roamed in large herds over the plains OF
Siberia. where it fed on the leaves OF
spruce and fir, and even crushed twigs OF
considerable size between its powerful
molars. This animal, it is believed by
some, existed for a long time in Northern
Asia before it found its way to Europe, in
which continent it does not seem to have
lived prior to the period of the drift
Other species of elephants, among then
the Elephas antiquus, existed during thu
drift time, but their remains occur les:
frequently than those of the mammoth
From "The Stone Age in Europe, by
CHARLES RAU, IN Harpers Magazine fol
| AprM.