MASTODON (Neo-Lat.. from Gk. p.acrr6s, mastos. breast + dEmis, (dmts. tooth). The name for a genus of extinct elephants. This genus is that most remote from the family type ( Elephas) and nearest the Dinotherium by reason mainly of the structure of its molar teeth. which are provided with but few transverse ridges—not more than five—that have a A-form in cross section (occasionally broken into isolated conical tubercles). and are separated by little or no cement: (Compare MA1IarOTi1.) Another dental differencc of the mastodon from nearly all other Elephantithe is its possession of milk molars, which in sonic instances persist through life, the permanent dentition in such cases being a mix ture of milk and permanent teeth. Tusks (in cisors) sometimes occur in both jaws.
Mastodons began to exist in the Miocene Age and became extinct in the Pleistocene. They were scattered all over the globe, and more than thirty species have been distinguished by paleon tologists, the latest described (1901) being a small and primitive type discovered in Egypt. This seems to confirm the prevailing opinion that the group originated in the Old 1Vorld and spread to America by way of Siberia. Two or more species belong to South America (Patagonia), where no other elephant has thus far been found. It is probable that several species lived in North America. hut the one best known and commonly in mind when the term is used is Mastodon A mcricanus. This species seems to have ranged over all the United States and Southern Canada, and to have been numerous, for its teeth and bones, in a more or less perfect condition, are repeatedly found. A dozen or more mounted skeletons are on exhibition in museums in New York, Chicago, Pittsburg, Cam bridge. Mass., Al bany, N. Y., and elsewhere. Careful comparison a n d study of these and other specimens show that this mastodon at least must have had the general form and appearance of a modern elephant, with a somewhat heavier body and flatter f ore hen d than that of the mammoth or Indian elephant; nor did its height exceed theirs on the aver age—if anything it was less. The tusks, too, were of similar length
(nine feet. measured along the outer curve, indi cating an Old and large male), and they had a characteristic tendimey to curl upward, sometimes almost completing a eirele. It is probable that the animal, at any rate in the more northerly parts of its range, was warmly clothed, like the mammoth. although there is not tinich direct evidence of it beyond the disenvery. many years ago. of n large mass of woolly brown hair buried in a hog in Ul ster County. N. Y., in apparent connection with mastodon remains. Several of the most eoni plete skeletons known ha VP been from I hat region, where animals hail beeome mired in swampy valley:. The disappearance of this nu merous and widespread species is as incompre hensible as in the ease of the mammoth and the South American horse. That it existed until reeent eonditions were established is plain. The food-remains in its have been repeatedly analyzed, and found to emisist of herbage. bark, and leaves of the smile kinds as now grow in the place where its bones lay. Workmen who came upon and broke mastodon bones in an Illi nois peat hog (see ,1 mcrican Naturalist, January, 1882) greased their boots with the marrow fat. It is the opinion of competent judges that rem nants of the herds survived the advent of man kind into North America: but the evidence is nut indubitable, in spite of many positive state. ments on record as to arrowheads lying among mastodon bones. Nevertheless, American geolo gists think it highly probable that the mastodon and man were briefly contemporary in North America.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Warren, The Alastodon CiganBibliography. Warren, The Alastodon Cigan- teas of North America (Boston, 1855) ; Mac Lean, Alostodon, Mammoth, and Man—to lie read with caution (Cincinnati. 187S) ; Scott, "Ameri can Elephant Myths," ,cribucr's Magazine (New York, 1877) ; Lucas, Animals of the Past (New York, 1901).