IPJ^IRT XX. 



The MAivyvLOTH 



I. NAME. 



The mammoth, sometimes called the Hairy Mammoth, 

 and sometimes the Siberian Elephant, according to Pallas, 

 a celebrated Russian savant who first gave a description 

 of it, owes its name to the Tartar word, mamma, meaning 

 the earth. It was so named because the Tungooses and Ya- 

 koots believed that this animal worked its way in the earth 

 like a mole. They declare that the mammoths have with- 

 drawn into great subterranean caverns, from whence they 

 never emerge, but wander to and fro in the galleries, and 

 as they pass into one the roof of the gallery rises, while 

 the roof of the one just vacated sinks. The moment this 

 animal sees the light it dies, and the reason so many have 

 been exposed to view is because of their having been de- 

 ceived by the irregular conformation of the land, thus 

 unintentionally venturing beyond the confines of darkness. 

 Among scientists it is known as the Elephas Primigenius 

 (primitive elephant), this name having been bestowed on 

 it by Blumenbach. The scientific name is a misnomer, for 

 several difierent groups of the elephantine family flourish- 

 ed and became extinct long before this variety was pro- 

 duced. The mastodon and the elephant lived through two 



