PREHISTORIC ART. 



379 



Its existence is only known from the finding of its fossil bones (fifty- 

 seven individuals were found in the neighboring' Grotto of I'llerni), and 

 from this the only pictorial representation of it ever made from life. The 

 engraving bears its own evidence of genuine antiquity. It shows a cer- 

 tain degree of art and will compare favorably in point of execution with 

 the average representation in outline of such an animal in our natural- 

 history school-books. The 

 correctness of the drawing 

 seems to be indisputable, for 

 it corresponds exactly with 

 the fossil skeletons of the 

 animal. The United States 

 National Museum possesses 

 a skeleton of one of these 

 animals in Anthropological 

 Hall (Cat. No. 17l'850). 



Mmmnofh. — Fig. 23 rep- 

 resents a mammoth, Ule- 

 2)has primigeuius (Blum.), 

 engraved on a laminated 

 fragment of his own tusk. 

 It is a thin, oblong piece 

 of ivory, convex on the side 

 according to the cylinder of 

 the tusk, and slightly con- 

 cave longitudinally accord- 

 ing to its curvature. It 

 was found at La Ma delaine 

 by M. Lartet, and was de- 

 scribed in " Corapte Rendus 

 de 1' Academic des Scien- 

 ces," 1865. The original is 

 in the Museum of Natural 

 History in Paris. The lofty 

 skull, the bulging and 

 curved forehead, the curved 

 tusks and shaggy hair, iden- 

 tify it satisfactorily. There 

 have been many skeletons 

 of the mammoth found in 



various i^arts of tlie world, all fossil. That from the Arctic regions of 

 Siberia, found by a Russian merchant, is well known. It was brought 

 down, reconstructed, and is now exhibited in the museum at St. Peters- 

 burg. The sketch of that specimen, made by the traveler who discovered 

 it, was not better made than is this one, done by the cave dweller of 

 southern France. It is so well done that one must believe the artist 

 had seen the animal, if he did not make the drawing from real life. 



