674 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



of E. columhi embraced the whole southern part of the United States 

 and the highlands of Mexico, including the area covered by E. im- 

 -perator^ with the exception of the South American locality. 



Elej)has 'prhnigenius fhylum. 



[See chart 4.] 



Elephas primigenius has been generally conceded to be of xVsiatic 

 origin and a near relative of E. indicus. The character of the teeth 

 and the presence of hair in the young E. indicus are certainly sug- 

 gestive of relationship. The teeth are also similar to those of E. 

 columbi and may represent a further development of the latter type 

 as readily as of E. indicus or E. antiquus. The presence of hair is 

 an atavistic character developed in E. primigenius to meet climatic 

 conditions, and we are by no means sure that E. columbi was naked, 

 as this is simply argued from its geographical distribution. The 

 tusks of E. primigenius, however, are generally the immense, spirally 

 coiled structures of E. columhi and E. imperator, though short-tusked 

 specimens do occur, presumably young individuals. In E. indicus 

 the tusks are greatly reduced, being absent in the female, often in the 

 male, and are evidently degenerate. 



Elephas columhi molars grade into those of E. primigenius, and 

 there is preserved in the Yale museum a fine jaw^ the characters of 

 which are clearly those of E. primigenius, while the teeth are those of 

 E. Columhi. In fact, E. cohimhi is often regarded merely as a 

 southern variety of the Siberian mammoth. It seems, however, as 

 though the reverse of this statement might be true, looking upon E. 

 primigefiius, which is the more specialized form, as the latest mutation 

 of the imperator- colu7nhi phylum, originating in North America 

 and becoming circumpolar in its distribution, invading Siberia from 

 the American Northwest. One tooth has been found on Long Island 

 in the eastern part of Hudson Bay, transitional in character between 

 the mammoth and Elephas columhi. Lucas supposes that this tooth 

 may have been carried thither with a carcass or a portion of a carcass 

 by the water or ice. This may be true, but upon such slender evidence 

 as this we have sometimes based a route of migration which subse- 

 quent discoveries have proven true. It may in this instance imply 

 that the migration was not wholly by waj^ of the Bering route and 

 that the hairy mammoth was indeed a circumpolar form. 



Thus it will be seen that these majestic creatures were great wan- 

 derers, ranging in the course of time over nearly the entire world. 

 FeAv mammals have been such world-wide travelers as the elephants, 

 as their record has been exceeded only by mankind, the horses, dogs, 

 and cats, the rhinoceroses and camels pressing close behind. It would 

 seem that in each instance the perfection of the race was in a large 

 measure due to the development of the migratory instinct. 



