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of Dinotherium. A very fine specimen of part of the cranium, with the maxillary bones and six molars of a Dinotherium from Epplesheim; purchased of M. Kaup.

15. (Table-case.) Fossil Brachiopodous shells of the order Rudistes, comprising some beautiful examples of Hippurites, Spherulites, &c. Among these is a fine specimen from Mr. Dixon's collection, of a species discovered by me in the chalk of Sussex, and named Spherulites Mortoni. There are likewise fossil Balani, Serpulæ, &c. but their arrange ment is only provisional.

Fossil Jaw of a Whale, from the Elephant-bed, Brighton CliffThere were formerly in this room several portions of the left ramus of the lower jaw of a Whale, discovered in the ancient shingle-bed associated with bones of Elephants, in the cliff to the East of Brighton.2

CHAPTER VI.-PART II.

FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF THE SEWALIK HILLS.

PALEONTOLOGY OF THE SEWALIK HILLS. Wall-cases A. and B.The splendid collection of fossil bones in the Cases before us, is almost wholly the result of the researches of Major Proby Cautley and Dr. Falconer, in the tertiary deposits of the Sub-Himalayas or Sewalik3 range, which skirts the southern base of the Himalayas, and attains an altitude of from one to three thousand feet above the level of the sea. The strata in which these remains were found consist of concretionary grit, conglomerate, sandstone, and loam, and are spread over the flanks of the hills, and extend about 200 miles in length, with an average breadth of about 7 miles, and dip to the north at an angle of from 20° to 30°. Wherever gullies and fissures, or water-courses, exposed sections of the beds, abundance of fossil bones were met with. Lignite and trunks of dicotyledonous trees, and a few freshwater and land shells, were found mingled with the animal remains; and some vestiges of a species of fluviatile fish related to the recent Silurus. The bones in the sandstone and conglomerate are very much in the condition of those of the reptiles in the Wealden grit, and are as difficult to clear from the rock, as I had personal experience in a fine collection sent to me in 1836, from Suharunpoor, by Major Cautley; and I can, therefore, duly appreciate the labour and skill bestowed on the specimens in the British Museum, by Mr. James Dew, by whom these interesting fossils were developed.

1 "Medals of Creation," p. 430, Lign. 98.

2 See "Medals of Creation," p. 824.

3 "Sewalik, a corruption of Siva-wála, a name given to the tract of mountains between the Jumna and the Ganges."-Major Cautley.

ROOM VI. ELEPHANTS AND MASTODONS OF SEWALIK HILLS. 469

The following extract from the prospectus of a work on these fossils, by Dr. Falconer, will convey some idea of the rich and extraordinary assemblage of mammalian remains which have been collected from the Sewalik deposits.

"This fossil Fauna is composed of representative types of mammalia of all geological ages, from the oldest of the tertiary periods down to the most modern; and of all the geographical divisions of the Old Continent, grouped together into one comprehensive assemblage. Among the forms contained in it there are of the Pachydermata, several species of Mastodon, Elephant, Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Anoplotherium, and three species of Equus of the Ruminantia, the colossal genus Sivatherium (ante, p. 457), which is peculiar to India, with species of Camelus, Bos, Cervus, and Antelope; of the Carnivora, species of most of the great types, together with several remarkable undescribed genera; of the Rodentia and Quadrumana, several species; of the Reptilia, a gigantic Tortoise (Colosso-chelys, ante, pp. 11, 77), with species of Emys and Trionyx, and several forms of Gavials and Crocodiles. To these may be added the remains of Struthious and other Birds and Fishes, Crustacea, and Mollusca."1 Thus, in the SubHimalayas we have entombed in the same rocky sepulchre, bones of the

LIGN. 103.-CRANIUM AND JAWS
OF ELEPHAS PLANIFRONS.
(nat. size.)

LIGN. 104.-CRANIUM AND JAWS OF
ELEPHAS NAMADICUS.
(nat. size.)

most ancient tertiary races of mammalia and reptilia, with those of species actually existing in India at the present time.

ELEPHANTS AND MASTODONS.-The Elephants of the Sewalik Hills, of which there are crania and teeth in the collection, comprise six species, as specified in the Synopsis; and I would direct particular attention to

1"Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis, being the Fossil Zoology of the Sewalik Hills in the North of India." By Dr. Falconer and Major Proby T. Cautley. London : 1846.

the cranial peculiarities and physiognomy of Elephas planifrons, distinguished by the flatness of the forehead (Lign. 103), and the inter

LIGN. 105.-CRANIUM AND JAWS OF ELEPHAS
HYSUDRICUS. (nat. size.)

this room.

mediate character of its molar teeth; E. Namadicus, with a great vertical development of the cranium (Lign. 104), and teeth closely allied to those of the Indian species; and the enormous turban-like vertex of the skull of E. Hysudricus (Lign. 105), the structure of whose teeth approaches that of the African Elephant.

Elephas Ganesa.—In the centre of Room VI. (H. of the plan, ante, p. 462). Among the Indian fossil elephants there is one species remarkable for the enormous size of the tusks in proportion to the skull; of this animal there is a splendid specimen deposited in the centre of

The total length of the cranium and tusks is fourteen feet; length of the skull, four feet two inches; width, twenty-nine inches

;

LIGN. 106.-CRANIUM AND TUSKS OF ELEPHAS GANESA.
(The original is 14 feet long.)

width of the muzzle, two feet; length of the tusks, ten feet; circumference of the tusk at the base, twenty-six inches.

MASTODONS.-The fossil remains of this extinct tribe of the elephantine family, thus named from the peculiar form of the crowns of the molar teeth, are found in equal abundance with those of the Elephants in the Sewalik tertiary deposits, and four species have been determined by Dr. Falconer, as enumerated in the Synopsis, (ante, p. 464.)

The Mastodons resembled the Elephants in their general character; having a convex cellular cranium, large tusks in the upper jaw, and a

long trunk or proboscis. The molars differ from those of the Elephant in their simple crown composed of dentine and enamel, disposed in large transverse tubercles, each of which is subdivided into two obtuse points or mastoid processes, which by use are worn into disks more or less wide, according to age; these transverse ridges are not filled up with cement. There are a greater number of grinders simultaneously in each jaw, than in the Elephant; and although the succession of the back grinders is antero-posterior as in the latter, the first and second molars, both in the upper and lower jaw, are replaced in a vertical direction by a tooth of a simpler form than the second molar.

A still more remarkable peculiarity is the existence in the lower jaw in the young Mastodon, of two small, short, straight tusks, that project from the anterior extremity; and these disappear as the animal advances to maturity, except in the tusks of some adult male species, in which one or both are retained.

But there are transitional forms of Mastodons from Ava, described by the late Mr. Clift, in which the characters of the molars are intermediate, as indicated by the name M. elephantoides; and Dr. Falconer affirms that the presumed distinctive characters are far from being absolute, for premolars are developed in greater number in one typical fossil species of Elephant than in any known Mastodon; and though the inferior tusks have been detected in three species of Mastodon, there are other forms in which, even in the young state, no traces of such dental organs are perceptible.

Lower Jaw of Mastodon with Tusk.-On the middle shelf of Wall-case B, in the fifth division of the cabinet, reckoning from the west end of the room, there is a remarkably fine and instructive specimen of a lower jaw of Mastodon Ohioticus, in which a tusk is seen retained in the socket of the right side. This jaw has on each side three molar teeth, the crowns of which are but slightly worn; and the root of the tusk is distinctly exposed in consequence of the mesial aspect of the socket having been broken away.

CHAPTER VI.-PART III.

MASTODONS AND ELEPHANTS OF NORTH AMERICA.

SKELETON OF THE MASTODON OF THE OHIO (Mastodon Ohioticus).Room VI. I.-This fine skeleton was purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum, of Albert Koch, a well-known collector of fossil remains, who had exhibited in the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, under the name of the "Missourium, or Leviathan of the Missouri," an enormous osteological monster, constructed of the bones of this skeleton, together with many belonging to other individuals, the tusks being fixed in their sockets so as to curve outwards on each side of the head. From this heterogeneous assemblage of bones, those belonging to the same animal were selected, and are articulated in their natural

LIGN. 107.-SKELETON OF THE MASTODON OHIOTICUS; FROM NORTH AMERICA. (Height 9 feet: length 20 feet.)

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