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.
TENNESSEE.
(Map [5]. Fig. 23.)