juxtaposition. Many fine examples of teeth and jaws, and other parts of the skeleton of the American Mastodon, from the same collection, are deposited in the Cases before us.

According to the narrative of M. Koch, these remains were found "near the banks of the river La Pomme de Terre, a tributary of the Osage River, in Burton County in the State of Missouri, 40° lat. 18° long." The bones were imbedded in a brown sandy deposit full of vegetable matter, with recognisable remains of the cypress, tropical cane, and swamp-moss, stems of the palmetto, &c., and this was covered by beds of blue clay and gravel to a thickness of about fifteen feet. Mr. Koch states (and he personally assured me of the correctness of the statement) that an Indian flint arrow-head was found beneath the legbones of this skeleton, and four similar weapons were imbedded in the same stratum: he avers that he raised them out of the bed with his own hands.1

The other North American remains of Mastodons in the Museum are chiefly from Big-bone Lick, a celebrated morass or bog, in Kentucky, about twenty-three miles in a south-west direction from Cincinnati. Imbedded in the blue clay of this ancient Creek, the entire skeletons, or separate bones, of not less than 100 Mastodons, 20 Mammoths, (Elephas primigenius,) a few bones of the Megalonyx, and of a species of Stag, Horse and Bison, are said to have been discovered.2

The following measurements (for which I am indebted to Mr. Waterhouse), will convey an idea of the size and proportions of this skeleton. Extreme length, 20 ft. 2 in.; height,

9 ft. 6 in.; cranium, length, 3 ft.; vertical dimension, 4 ft.; width, 2 ft. 11 in.; width of pelvis, 5 ft. 8 in.; tusks, extreme length, 7 ft. 2 in.; projection of the same, 5 ft. 2 in.; circumference at the base, 27 in.

On the pedestal, and under the above skeleton, is placed a model of the cranium and jaws of a young Mastodon, of the same species. The tusks in the lower jaws are wanting.

LIGN. 108.

MAMMOTH (Elephas primigenius). -Wall-case A.-The species of fossil Elephant distributed in the Drift of Europe, and whose bones, ivory tusks, and even the entire carcasses covered with skin and bone, occur in the icy regions of Siberia, is generally known by the name of Mammoth. The teeth and tusks of this species are so common in this country, that scarcely a local museum is destitute of

1 66

p. 20.

CRANIUM AND JAWS OF A YOUNG

MASTODON OHIOTICUS: FROM BIG-
BONE LICK.

(nat. size.)

Description of the Missourium, by Albert Koch." Louisville, 1841,

2 See "Travels in North America," by Sir Charles Lyell, 1845, vol. ii. chap. xvii.; or my "Pictorial Atlas of Organic Remains," p. 167.

specimens. I therefore need only refer the reader unacquainted with the highly interesting history of the discovery of the carcass of this species in the frozen soil of the banks of the Lena, to "Wonders of Geology," p. 152; and point out to the visitor the fine teeth and crania in the Wall-case A, and the enormous tusks obtained from the Arctic regions, that are placed above.

Elephas meridionalis.-This species is found in the newer tertiary deposits, and is comparatively rare in this country; there are teeth and bones from the Norwich Crag, and from Grays, in Essex. From this last named locality was obtained the series of bones of the foot placed on the pedestal I; there are three carpals, and two metacarpals; the middle metacarpal is eight inches long, and four inches wide; twice the size of the corresponding bones in the skeleton of the mammoth.

CHAPTER VI.-PART IV.

FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF THE TERTIARY FORMATIONS. DINOTHERIUM.-Wall-cases 12, 14.-This extinct mammalian was first known by some large molar teeth, described by Baron Cuvier

LIGN. 109.-CRANIUM AND JAWS OF DINOTHERIUM GIGANTEUM, FROM EPPLESHEIM. (nat. size.)

as belonging to a gigantic animal related to the Tapir, and which he designated "Tapir gigantesque." Subsequently, the entire skull and lower jaws were discovered in Miocene sand, near Epplesheim, by M. Klipstein, and described by M. Kaup. The model in the Museum is from this celebrated specimen; the original is now, I believe, in the Jardin des Plantes, having been purchased by the French Govern

ment.

The skull is characterised by a very flat occiput, large nasal apertures opening above, large suborbital fosse, which, together with the form of the nose, indicate the existence of a short trunk, or proboscis. The lower jaw has in front two enormous tusks directed downwards, and gently curved inwards; the molar teeth () resemble those of the Tapirs and Lamantins. The annexed figure will enable the reader to identify the specimen, and distinguish the most essential characters.

The enormous size of the skull, and the powerful tusks, suggested the name Dinotherium.—“ Medals of Creation," p. 832.

M. Kaup considers the Dinotherium to have belonged to an extinct genus of pachyderms, the form and structure of the molar teeth indicating an approach to the Mastodons and Tapirs; but M. Blainville and M. Pictet regard it as an herbivorous cetacean, which inhabited the embouchures of great rivers; and they suppose that the large tusks of the lower jaw served for uprooting the marsh and aquatic plants which constituted its food. As the cranium and jaws are the only known parts of the skeleton, these physiological inferences are based on their form and structure; but until bones of the extremities are discovered, no positive conclusion can be obtained. The restored figure of the Dinotherium, as a terrestrial pachyderm, is given in (see "Wonders of Geology, p. 174) most works on palæontology. M. Pictet, in his valuable treatise on Palæontology, has introduced an outline of the animal as an aquatic herbivore, resembling the Lamantin. If the femur in Windowrecess, ante, p. 467, really belonged to the Dinotherium, the terrestrial habits of the original would be satisfactorily established; but at present the reference of that bone to the Dinotherium is only hypothetical.

CUVIERIAN PACHYDERMS.-Wall-case F.-In this cabinet are deposited specimens and models of bones and teeth of extinct pachyderms, belonging to a group of genera differing from all living forms, and which constituted the most striking feature of the mammalian fauna of the ancient tertiary epochs in Europe. They are most nearly allied to the Tapirs, which are natives of warm climates, one species inhabiting India, and two America. In the tertiary ages Tapirs and these allied forms existed in those regions of the globe, and in Europe: their fossil remains occur in the caves of Brazil, in the sandstone conglomerate on the banks of the Irawadi in the Burmese empire, and in the Sewalik Hills; in the sands of Epplesheim, and in the tertiary deposits of Auvergne.

The extinct genus nearest allied to the living Tapirs, is the Lophiodon, which has six incisor teeth in each jaw, and the molars with transverse ridges: one species found at Argenton, was as large as a rhinoceros ; but the two most abundant and best known genera are those designated by Baron Cuvier, Palæotherium, and Anoplotherium, from the gypsum quarries of Montmartre.

PALEOTHERIUM. - The animals of this genus resembled the Tapirs in the form of the head, and in having a short proboscis, but their molar teeth were more like those of the rhinoceros: their fore-feet had but three toes, instead of four as in the Tapirs. They had forty-four teeth; two pointed canines, longer than the incisors, in each jaw. The

LIGN.110.-JAWS AND TEETH OF PALEOTHERIUM
MAGNUM. (nat. size.)

form and arrangement of the teeth are shown in Lign. 110. There are eleven known species; the largest, Palæotherium magnum, was of the size of a horse five feet high, with a massive head, and proboscis, and

short extremities. P. medium was smaller than the American Tapir, and had longer and slighter legs and feet. P. minus was an elegant creature, as large as the Roebuck, with light and slender limbs.2

ANOPLOTHERIUM.-This genus is remarkable from its forming a connecting link between the ruminants and the pachyderms, having the cloven foot of the former, with canine teeth and other osteological characters of the latter; Baron Cuvier states that it combines affinities

toot

ん

LIGN. 111.-JAWS AND TEETH OF THE ANOPLO-
THERIUM COMMUNE. (nat. size.)

with the Rhinoceros, Horse, Hippopotamus, Hog, and Camel. The Anoplotherium has forty-four teeth disposed in a continuous uninterrupted series (see Lign. 111); a dental character only known in Man and the Quadrumana; viz.

incisors; canines, which are not larger than the incisors, and resemble them in form;

and 77 molars, the anterior of which are compressed, and the upper posterior square, while those of the lower jaw have two crescents. The feet have but two developed toes, as in the ruminants; but there are species with small accessory toes, as in some of the animals of that order; but the metatarsal and metacarpal bones do not coalesce and form canonbones, as in the other pachyderms, but always remain distinct. The Anoplotheria had a long and thick tail resembling that of the Otter, and it is supposed they were of aquatic habits, like the Hippopotamus. Seven or eight species have been discovered.

The collection contains specimens of other Eocene mammalia of the genera Dichobune, Anthracotherium, &c.3

CHAPTER VI.-PART V.

FOSSIL EDENTATA OF SOUTH AMERICA: THE
MEGATHERIUM.

We now arrive at the examination of the colossal skeleton which arrested our attention on entering this room-the Megatherium; an animal of an extinct family of Edentata, an Order of Mammalia, so named from the absence of incisor teeth, and of which the diminutive

1 See "Wonders of Geology," p. 255, fig. 2.

2 Ibid. p, 255, fig. 4.

3 See "Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles," for the history and anatomical characters of these extinct genera.

Sloths, Ant-eaters, and Armadillos, are existing examples; yet the largest of these does not exceed a dog in bulk, and is scarcely so high, while the fossil types surpass the rhinoceros in magnitude. The Edentata link together the Unguiculata and the Ungulata, for their toes are generally encased in thick skin, or scales, and terminate in strong, arched, solid claws. The extinct forms approach nearer the pachyderms than any existing genus of the Order, and they present transitional characters connecting the very dissimilar tribes of the Ant-eaters and the Sloths. The living Edentata are inhabitants of hot climates, and are abundant in South America; and there are a few species in Africa and Asia. The fossil species are for the most part from South America, but remains of Edentata have been discovered in the tertiary deposits of Central France and Germany, proving, that in the Eocene period animals of this order were inhabitants of Europe.

The bones of the extinct colossal Edentata are chiefly found in the alluvial loam and sand which compose the subsoil of the Pampas of South America; those vast plains which, for 900 miles, present a waving sea of grass. The deposits of the Pampas have evidently been formed in a bay or arm of the sea, into which floated the carcasses of the animals which then inhabited the neighbouring dry land.

The

Our distinguished traveller, Mr. Darwin, in relating the discovery of the Scelidotherium (pp. 77 and 480), states, "that the beds containing the fossil skeletons consist of stratified gravel and reddish mud, and stand only from fifteen to twenty feet above the level of high water; a proof that the elevation of the land has been inconsiderable since the great quadrupeds wandered over the surrounding plains, and that the external features of the country were then very nearly the same as now. number of the remains of these quadrupeds imbedded in the vast estuary deposits which form the Pampas and cover the granitic rocks of Banda Oriental, must be extraordinarily great. I believe, a straight line drawn in any direction through the country would cut through some skeleton or bones. As far as I am aware, not one of these animals perished, as was formerly supposed, in the marshes or muddy river-beds of the present land, but their bones have been exposed by the streams intersecting the subaqueous deposit in which they were originally imbedded. We may conclude that the whole area of the Pampas is one wide sepulchre of these extinct gigantic quadrupeds."1

THE MEGATHERIUM.-This stupendous extinct animal of the Sloth tribe was first made known to European naturalists by a skeleton, almost entire, dug up in 1789, on the banks of a river in South America, named the Luxan, about three-miles south-east of Buenos Ayres; the specimen was sent to Madrid, and fixed up in the Museum, in the form represented in numerous works on natural history. A second skeleton was exhumed at Lima, in 1795; and of late years Sir Woodbine Parish, Mr. Darwin, and other naturalists, have sent bones of the Megatherium, and other allied genera, to England.

The model of the Megatherium, Lign. 112, has been constructed with great care from the original bones, in the Wall-cases 9, 10, and in the Hunterian Museum. The attitude given to the skeleton, with the

1" Journal of a Naturalist," by Charles Darwin, Esq. F.R.S. &c.