SI 2 MEMOIR ON 



Tlic ]ate Dr. W. Hunter was the firfl: to relieve the learn- 

 ed from an error they had long indulged. Having carc- 

 luUy compared a few fpecimens of the American bones 

 ^vith others of the Siberian non-defcript, and thefe again 

 with liinilar parts of the elephant, hippopotamus, &c. he 

 became convinced, that the two lirft were vefliges of one 

 and the fame fpecies of animal ; but differing eflentially in 

 iize and form from the bones ot any other at prefent known 

 to us : that, confequently, they were not parts of the ele- 

 ]ihant, nor of the hippopotamus; but of fome huge car- 

 nivorous animal.* 



Had the opportunities of this accurate obferver been 

 greater than it appears they were; or, in other words, 

 had his materials been lefs fcanty, he would have difcern- 

 ed the remains of a fecond incognitum, whofe ftature was 

 not, perhaps, inferior to that of the other. Thefe fecond 

 remains evince a member of the herbivorous order ; and, 

 from their extraordinary fize, 1 have no hefitation in be- 

 lieving, that they belonged to fome link in the chain of 

 animal creation, which, like that of the Mammoth, has 

 long been loft-f 



Both Ikeletons of thefe incognita being ufually embedded 

 in company, they have hitherto been confounded together 

 by writers, under the fmgle appellation of Mammoth 

 hones. 



The parts which more decidedly mark the remains of a 

 fecond animal, confift, firfl, of a grinder exclufively worn 

 by thofe of the herbivorous or graminivorous kind ; and, 

 fecondly, of two tu(l<.s (Jcfcnfcs ) differently fafhioned. 



Although I do not prefume to alfert, that, contrary to 

 the received opinion, neither of thefe tufks belonged to 

 the Mammoth : yet if the nature of his purfuits be con- 

 fidered, taking it for granted, as I fhall endeavour to fliew, 

 that he was partly (if not wholly) carnivorous ; — that there 



is 



* Tvanf. Roy. Soc. vol. LVIII. p. 42. 



f It is with relucflance, that [ feel niyfelf conftrained to oiFer Iiere an opi- 

 nion fo contrary to that which has been held by two liich able writers as 

 Mr. Jofftrlbn and Mr. Pennant. 



