The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-02-10
PERFECT SPECIMEN OF MAMMOTH
DISCOVERED IN ALASKAN ICE

not simply bulky mass, but an al
r.i.ably constructed and complex piece
lof work. The unit in its structure is
simple, single cusp. The cusp is unit
ed with other cusps and form a hat
plate. The cusps are cemented togeth-
er by layers of dentine, each period OF
the elephants life being accorded
specific number of plates SO that the
first molar, the milk tooth, is cut at
three months old and shed when the
calf is two years old, the second, of
eight or nine plates. is shed at SIX
years; the third, of eleven to thirteen
plates, is shed at nine years; the fourth,
of fifteen or sixteen plates, is shed
at twenty-five years; the fifth, OF
seventeen to twenty plates. is shed at
fifty; the sixth, of twenty-five to
twenty-seven plates, is shed at hun
dred.''
Scientists do not agree as to whether
man existed while the mammoth flour
isbed Relics of etchings by cave men
in southern France give the strongest
evidence that they were contempora-
neous. Since recorded history began,
the fossil ivory in commerce tells of the
extinct form of this life ages before.
The supply coming out of Siberia has
been estimated at not less than one
hundred pairs of tusks a year from
ancient days to the present time.
The best known specimen of NAM
moth on earth is at Petersburg. Tae
late James Dwight Dana one of Amer
ica's most famous scientists. in his
Manual of Geology, has this t. say OF
this particular specimen: This an
cient elephant was over twice the
weight of the largest modern species.
and nearly a third larger. The body
was covered with reddish wool and
long black hair. One of the tusks
IL IL feet in length; it was
curved nearly into circle, though a
little obliquely. At the mouth of the |
Lena one of these animals was found, |
at the beginning of this (nineteenth /
century, frozen and encased in ice. It /
16 feet inches in length to T
the extremity of the tail, exclusive Of I
the tusks, and feet inches in height. /
1t retained the wool on its hide. and I
was so perfectly preserved that the
flesh was eaten by the dogs"
LARGER SPECIMENS.
While the st. Petersburg specimen is
The most perfect one known, it is not
The largest. That honor belongs to the
/
men itself is now the property of the
Chicago Academy of Science. w. K.
Higley, Phi. D., while director of the
academy, prepared little monograph
m this skeleton, from which are CLEAN
"a the following facts:
1.-THE bones were found in the spring
If 1878, in the southwest part of Spo-
zane county, Washington, on the farm
# Mr.. Coplen. The county is a roll
ng praire, about 2100 feet above the
ga, extending from the Rocky noun
aims to the Cascade range. The water
curses are timbered, the rest treeless.
The soil is a rich black loan, with
White clay subsoil. Hangman's creek,
bout 30 feet wide, runs through this
art of the country into the Spokane
liver, which is a tributary of the Col
mbia. The prairie is an excellent grain
md, and in the wild state produces
rass 80 inches high.
1.-THE remains of four mammoths :
Tere found on the upland in a marshy
ollow, about so feet in diameter, form
q by a spring oozing out of the black
lud, whose waters flowed off in mar
DIV valley to Hangman's creek, about
of a mile distant. The
ones were exposed while ditching in
rder to drain the spot
The completed and mounted skeleton J
: the magnificent Spokane mammoth
elephas primigenius of the scientists, 4
lands Is feet high, and if allowances
re made for the gristiy cushion under
lie feet and for the feshy and heavy &
ane on the shoulders, the living ami
al would have measured IA feet in f
eight.
The skeleton of Jumbo (elephas
:, ten feet three inches;
Tarrens mastodon, giganteus, at Bos-
n, is eleven feet, and the Hauser ele- s.
has indicus at Northwestern univer- Is
ty. Evanston, ILL.,, is ten feet eight s.
ches