EVOLUTION OF THE ELEPHANT— LULL. 



663 



(X 4) 



Tooth of K. piimigenius 

 aftei" Marsh. 



original digging function, and their use as weapons must have been 

 much impaired. They seem to represent an instance of a certain 

 acquired momentum of evolution carrying them past the stage of 

 greatest usefuhiess to become an actual detriment to their owner. 

 This may have been an important 

 factor for extinction. 



Elephas primigenius. 



The mammoth was not among the 

 largest of elephants, being but little 

 in excess of Elephas indicus in height, 

 but with relatively huge tusks exceed- 

 ing, in some instances, a length of over 

 11 feet measured along the outer curve. ^^^- -^• 

 The teeth have the most numerous and 

 finest lamellae, and in this respect, as well as in the development 

 of hair, this creature shows the greatest degree of specialization as 

 compared with the tusks and skull in the Columbian species. It is 

 curious to note, however, that in three ways one can trace the in- 

 creasing fineness in the lamella? of the molars corresponding to the 

 three modes of distribution — latitude, altitude, and time — for the 

 more ancient individuals, living the farthest south and nearest the 

 sea level, have teeth very much like those of E. columhl. The increas- 

 ing fineness of lamellae 

 -^"^ is correlated with increas- 



ing cold and a consequent 

 change in the character 

 of food plants, as the 

 last of the mammoths fed 

 upon harsh grasses and 

 the needles and cones of 

 the fir and other conifers, 

 mingled with moss. The 

 hairy coat, another adap- 

 tation to extreme cold, 

 was of three sorts, an in- 

 ner coat of reddish wool, next a longer, fawn-colored coat, outside 

 of Avhich were long, black bristles, especially on certain parts of the 

 body, as the neck, back, and chest. It is interesting to note that in 

 the Indian elephant, the nearest living ally of the mammoth, there is, 

 at birth, a complete coat of rather long hair, which is shed in a few 

 weeks, except that in the mountain region of the Malay peninsula ele- 

 phants are reported to be persistently hairy. This points to an 

 §8292— SM 1908 48 



Petersburg mammoth of 1806. 



