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* MASTODON. 176 MASULIPATAM. Elephantida? is its possession of milk molars, which in some instances persist through life, the permanent dentition in such cases being a mix- ture of milk and permanent teeth. Tusks (in- cisors) sonietinies occur in botli 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 descril)ed (1901) being a small and i)rimitive type discovered in Egypt. This seems to confirm the prevailing opinion that the group originated in the Old orld 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, but the one best known and commonly in mind when the term is used is Mastodon Americaniis. 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 museimis in New York. Chicago, Pittsburg, C a m - bridge, Mass., Al- bany, N. Y., and elsewhere. Careful comparison and study of these and other specimens show that this mastodon at least must have had the general form and appearance of a modem elephant, with a somewhat heavier body and flatter fore hca 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 hirge male), and they hail a cliaracteristic tendency to curl upward, sometimes almost completing a circle. 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 much direct evidence of it Iwyond the discovery, many years ago, of a large mass of woolly brown hair buried in a bog in Ul- ster County, N. Y., in ap])arent connection with ma.stodon remains. Several of the most com- plete skeletons known have been obtained from that region, where animals had become mired in swampy valleys. 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 recent conditions were established is plain. The fnod-remains in its stomach have been repeatedly analyzed, and found to consist of herbage, hark, and leaves of the same kinds as now grow in the place where its bones lay. Workmen who came upon nnd broke ma.stodon bones in an Illi- nois peat bog (see American Xaturalist, Januarj-, TEETH OF ELEPHANTS. Comparison of tooth-structure of probosfidt-ans, shown by ver- tical cross-sfctions of molars; ji, mastodo'n; /*. L'lffthns insifrnis, a fossil species intermediate i)P- twoen mastodons and true ele- ])liants; c, Afrl<'aa elephant: d, mammoth. Tills series e.Yhtbit8 pri)^fres8 from simplicity to com- plexit.v. 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 not indubitable, in spite of many positive state- ments on record as to arrowheads Ijing 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 Mastodon Gigan- teun of North America (Boston, 1855); Mac- Lean, Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man — to be read with caution (Cincinnati. 1878) ; Scott, "Ameri- can Elephant ityths," iicrihncr's Magazine (New York, 1877) ; Lucas, Animals of the Past (New York, 1901). MAS'TODONSAUTIUS (Neo-Lat., from »ias- lodon, mastodon + Gk. o-oOpot, sauros, lizard). The largest known labyrinthodont batrachian, found fossil in Triassic rocks of Wiirlteuiberg, England, and India. The body attained a length of nearly 10 feet, and the skull alone had a length of about four feet. See Stegocephalia. MASTJ. A Japanese salmon. MASXJDI, ma-soo'de (Ar. Abu al-Hasax 'Ali ai.-Mas'ud1 ( ?-c.95G) . One of the most emi- nent Arabian geographers and historians. He was born in Bagdad, descended from a distin- guished family, one of who.se members, Masod, was a companion of Mohammed on his flight to Medina. Masudi early devoted himself to pro- found studies, to which he added by prolonged travels in Spain, Kussia. and throughout the East. After traveling through Persia and Kir- man he came in 904 to India. He next traveled to Multan and Mansura, thence to Ceylon, and proceeded east as far as China. To the north lie went to the Caspian district, and in 921 we find him in Palestine. In 9I.'i he was at Antioch and two years later in Damascus. The rest of his life he spent in Syria and Egj'pt, dying at Eostat about 95G. He was a geographer, philos- opher, student of religions, familiar with .Juda- ism and Christianity, and a historian acquainted with the ancient and modern history of the East and West. His Kitdh Akbi'ir al-ZnmOn contained a universal history in 30 volumes; his KitCib al-Aufinl. a short chronological ac- count of the world's history. JIasudi com- bined these two in a more popular work called Muruj al-Dhahab (Meadows of Gold), in which he gives a general view of the political, religious, and social history of the most important Asiatic and European countries, as well as of their geography (ed. Hulak. ISlifi, Cairo, 1886; with Erench trans, bv De Jleynard and De Courteille, 9 vols.. Paris. l'8r>r-77: vol. i. in English by .. Sprenger. London, 1841). A still more general work on history and geography was his hildh itl-Tduhfh (ed. De Ooeje. JjCydcn, 1804; partially trans, by De Sacy in Xolicra et Fxtrails. vol. viii. and in vol. ix. of the Erench trans, of the frndnir.<!). Another work, also called Akhhiir iilZnmrin. is fnlscly ascribed to him. Consult: Carra de Vaux, h'nhri'gr dis mrr- rrillr.i (Paris, 1898) ; Brockelmann, Geschichte drr nrnhisrhrn I.iltrratur, i. (Weinnir, 1899). MASULIPATAM, mA srnT'l,'.p:i-tam'. Tlic capital of the District of Kistna. Aladms. British India, 21.5 miles north of the city of Madras, on the Bay of Bengal (Map: India,' D 5). Its for-