320 HISTORICAL PALZONTOLOGY. 
early as the Miocene period, the first of them being exclusively 
confined to deposits of this age. Of the three, the genus 
Deinotherium is much the most abnormal in its characters ; 
so much so, that good authorities regard it as really being one 
of the Sea-cows (.Sévenéa)—though this view has been rendered 
untenable by the discovery of limb-bones which can hardly 
belong to any other animal, and which are distinctly Probosci- 
dean in type. The most celebrated skull of the Deinothere 
(fig. 246) is one which was exhumed from the Upper Miocene 
deposits of Epplesheim, in Hesse- 
Darmstadt, in the year 1836. 
This skull was four and a half 
feet in length, and indicated an 
animal larger than any existing 
species of Elephant. ‘The upper 
jaw is destitute of incisor or 
canine teeth, but is furnished on 
each side with five molars, which 
are opposed to a corresponding 
series of grinding teeth in the 
lower jaw. No canines are pre- 
sent in the lower jaw; but the 
, front portion of the jaw is ab- 
Fig. 246.—Skull of Detnotherium ruptly bent downwards, and car- 
giganteun, greatly reduced. From : : Bac 
the Upper Miocene of Germany. ries two huge tusk-like incisor 
teeth, which are curved down- 
wards and backwards, and the use of which is rather proble- 
matical. Not only does the Deinothere occur in Europe, but 
remains belonging to this genus have also been detected in the 
Siwalik Hills, in India. . 
The true Elephants (Z/ephas) do not appear to have ex- 
isted during the Miocene period in Europe, but several species 
have been detected in. the Upper Miocene deposits of the 
Siwalik Hills, in India. The fossil forms, though in all cases 
specifically, and in some cases even sub-generically, distinct, 
agree with those now in existence in the general conformation 
of their skeleton, and in the principal characters of their den- 
tition. In all, the canine teeth are wanting in both jaws; and 
there are no incisor teeth in the lower jaw, whilst there are 
two incisors in the front of the upper jaw, which are de- 
veloped into two huge “tusks.” There are six molar teeth 
on each side of both the upper and lower jaw, but only 
one, or at most a part of two, is in actual use at any given 
time ; and as this becomes worn away, it is pushed forward 
and replaced by its successor behind it. The molars are of 
