498 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Thus the oldest and lowest of the Tertiary rocks which are them- 

 selves collectively the most recently formed is the " Eocene," and 

 the succeeding "Miocene," "Pliocene," and "Quaternary," are given 

 in their due order ; the latter formations bringing us to the soils and 

 surface accumulations of our own day. The " Ice Age," or " Glacial 

 Epoch," we may also note, occurred during the Post-Pliocene period, 

 as shown above. 



Turning now to the past history of the elephants, we find the first 

 chapter of that biography to open in the " Miocene " age. The earlier 

 or " Eocene " period contains no elephant fossils, and it may have been 

 that in this Eocene age, which beheld the first beginnings of nearly 

 all the existing quadruped races, the evolution of the elephant stock 

 from its ancestry was taking place. Leaving for the present the con- 

 sideration of the probable root of the elephantine tree, we thus dis- 

 cover in the Miocene period the first beginnings of elephant existence. 

 In this period the mastodons roamed over Europe and India, while in 

 this age also the dinotheriums, with their great lower tusks, made 

 their first appearance on the stage of time. As the geological series 

 progressed, and as the Pliocene age succeeded the Miocene times, we 

 discover the elephants in increasing numbers. The Miocene, with its 

 relatively few elephantine forms, contrasts forcibly with the increase 

 of those animals in the succeeding age. Europe and India harbor its 

 Pliocene elephants, as we have seen ; while both Europe and America 

 in this latter age possessed the mastodons. The Post-Pliocene period, 

 however, dawns in turn, to find the mastodons still existent in North 

 America, but unknown in Europe ; while the mammoth now appears 

 as a representative form, along with survivals of the European ele- 

 phants of the Pliocene time. The " pygmy elephants " of Malta also 

 belong to the Post-Pliocene age. 



Thus we discover that a distinct sitccessio?i of types cf elephantine 

 forms has taken place on the earth's surface, beginning with elephants 

 which, like the dinotherium and mastodon, differ from existent spe- 

 cies, and ending with elephants which, like the mammoth or the Eu- 

 ropean elephants of the Pliocene, more or less closely resembled the 

 quadruped giants of to-day. It becomes interesting further to trace 

 out the later history of the race before the bearings of these facts on 

 the origin of the elephant race are discussed. The mammoth, for ex- 

 ample, certainly survived the " ice-age," to the irruption of which was 

 probably "due the extinction of the other elephantine forms. We know 

 of this survival because its remains occur in " recent " or " post-gla- 

 cial " deposits. We are also certain that early man must have beheld 

 the mammoth as a living, breathing reality, for its remains have 

 been found associated with the rude implements of early men, and a 

 rough portrait of the great red-haired elephant has been discovered, 

 scratched on one of its tusks a rude but unquestionable tribute of 

 early art to the science of zoology. Its woolly hair, protecting it against 



