172 MAMMALIA. 



wholly without foundation. The females have very short tusks, 

 and in this respect, many of the males resemble them. 



E. africanus, Cuv.; Perrault, Mem. pour I'Hist. des An., and 

 F. Cuv. Mammif. (The African Elephant.) A round head ; 

 convex forehead ; large ears ; the crowns of the grinders divided 

 into lozenges ; it appears very frequently to have but three nails 

 to the hind foot. Found from Senegal to the Cape of Good 

 Hope. Whether they ascend the eastern coast of Africa, or 

 whether they are replaced there by the preceding species is not 

 known. The tusks of the female are as large as those of the 

 male, and the weapon itself, generally speaking, is larger than 

 in the Indian species. The African Elephant is not now tamed, 

 though it appears that the Carthaginians employed it in -the 

 same way that the inhabitants of India do theirs. 



In nearly every part of the two continents, are found, under 

 ground, the bones of a species of elephant allied to that of India, 

 but with narrower and straighter coronal fillets, the alveoli for 

 lodging the tusks much longer in proportion, and the lower jaw 

 more obtuse. A specimen recently taken from the ice on the 

 coast of Siberia, by Mr Adams, appears to have been thickly 

 covered with hairs of two kinds, so that it is possible this spe- 

 cies may have lived in cold climates. It has long disappeared 

 from the face of the earth. See Cuv. Oss. Foss. tom. I. 

 The second genus of the Proboscidiana, or the 



Mastodon^ Cuv. 



Has been completely destroyed, nor is there a single individual liv- 

 ing. It had the feet, tusks, trunk, and many other details of con- 

 formation in common with the Elephant ; but differed from it in the 

 grinders, the crown of which, from above the gum, being bristled 

 with large conical points, presented in proportion to their detri- 

 tion, larger or smaller disks, which represented sections of those 

 points.(l) These teeth, whicii succeed each other from behind, like 

 those of the Elephant, presented also so many more pairs of points 

 as the animal was the more advanced in age. 



M. glganteitm, Cuv. loc. cit. The Great Mastodon, in which 

 the sections of the points are lozenge-shaped, is the most cele- 

 brated species. It equalled the Elephant in size, but with still 

 heavier proportions. Its remains are found in a wonderful state 

 of preservation, and in great abundance throughout all parts of 



(1) This conformation, common to the Mastodon, Hippopotamus, Hog, &c.,has 

 occasioned the erroneous idea of the first being carnivorous. 



