EXTINCT WHALES AND WOMBATS — 2097 
at their command, or the bad state of preservation in which the 
specimens are often found. The old saying, “Humanum est 
errare,” is particularly true of paleontological workers. But, at 
least, it can be said of them that they are honest, and never 
attempt to delude the public. There have, however, occasionally 
arisen enterprising persons, more desirous of making money than 
of furthering scientific truth, who have, for a time, succeeded in 
the grossest deceptions. Matzuyer, about 1613, exhibited some 
Mastodon bones as those of a human giant (Teutoboccus rex) and 
made a great stir in France; and now we have to record another 
case in connection with Zeuglodon. 
In the year 1845, Dr. Albert Koch exhibited a large skeleton 
of a fossil animal, under the name Hydrarchos Sillimani, the 
former of which would mean “ King of the Sea,’ while the latter 
seemed to indicate the approval of Professor Silliman. (The name 
is tempting to a punster.) These remains consisted of a head and 
vertebral column, measuring in all one hundred and fourteen feet, 
a few ribs and parts of some supposed paddles. Dr. Koch made the 
public believe that all the bones had been found together in such a 
way as to prove that they belonged to a single individual, and that 
the numerous vertebra formed a connected series. This, however, 
was a mere fabrication, as was shown by Professor Wyman, who 
says “these remains never belonged to one and the same 
individual,’ and that the anatomical characters of the teeth 
prove them to be, not those of a reptile, but of a warm-blooded 
mammal. He came to the conclusion that the greater part of 
the bones belonged to the genus Basilosaurus (King-saurian) 
of Harlan, a name which the American geologists still retain 
for Zeuglodon. This skeleton represented at least two separate 
individuals. 
The following letter on the subject, from the well-known 
