88 M. Renoir on the Traces of Ancient Glaciers, 



The most natural explanation, — the most probable cause of 

 the accumulation of the remains of elephants in the compara- 

 tively contracted basin of the river Kara, is to be found in the 

 manner in which ice extended itself over the earth. We know 

 from the instructions of the celebrated Cuvier, that the fossil 

 species of the north of Asia approaches nearer, in every re- 

 spect, to that which now inhabits the southern regions of that 

 part of the globe, than the species which is to be found in the 

 eastern quarters of Africa. We are also aware that those of 

 Asia are known in commerce by the name of mountain ele- 

 phants, because they inhabit elevated places in preference, 

 while those of Africa are more inclined to frequent the banks 

 of rivers and lakes. We may tlierefore suppos,e, without in- 

 curring the charge of making too bold a conjecture, that the 

 species of whose remains we now speak also inhabited moun- 

 tains. 



When it happened, then, in consequence of the continual cool- 

 ing of the terrestrial mass, that its surface, a little more distant 

 from the sun than it is now, began to freeze, the ice (as we 

 have already had occasion to state in our notice in vol. xi. 

 of the Bulletin, page 148) accumulated at first on the high 

 parts of the mountains, then on those less elevated, which the 

 elephants were then obliged to abandon. At a later period, 

 the ice continuing to descend in proportion as the cold in- 

 creased, the mammoths entirely left the m-ountains and sought 

 liquid water and a milder temperature in the plains. Although 

 in a state of suffering and decline, they might still live and 

 propagate for a long time in these plains ; but at last, sur- 

 rounded on all sides by continually increasing cold, they ne- 

 cessarily perished. 



Before their destruction, a portion of these animals, always 

 in search of a less severe climate, and urged on by all the ne- 

 cessities of life, must have descended to the shores of the sea. 

 The northern direction of the rivers in the north of Asia, would 

 prove no reason for preventing the elephants from descending 

 them, because at that period the solar influence was less, and 

 climates were scarcely, or not at all, distinctively marked. 

 . There was no inducement for them to reascend, for by so do- 

 ing they would again rise to the regions of snow. 



By avoidhig the mountains, the greater part of these pacliy* 



rmaia h&d ti) trtiVeriie siitctvdlve pkint vviit«ji'«id b^ th« Dwintt 



