SOME INDIAN MONSTERS. 175 



chapters xiii. and xiv. deal with elephants, we must reserve 

 our remarks till then, only alluding here to one striking form 

 from the Sivalik Hills, namely, the Elephas ganesa, the tusks of 

 which were more than ten feet in length, and much less curved 

 than those of the mammoth. A very fine specimen of the head 

 and tusks may be seen in the gallery of fossil mammals in the 

 Natural History Museum (Gallery I, Stand D). 



With the following eloquent passage from Dr. Falconer's 

 " Memoirs," we take leave of the remarkable Sivalik fauna, hoping 

 that future geologists will endeavour to follow his example and 

 bring to light yet other "lost creations" from that region, so 

 rich in fossils, yet comparatively unexplored. Would that the 

 English Government could see their way to follow the example 

 of the United States, and send out a scientific expedition to 

 explore this wonderful region ! There can be no doubt that a 

 rich harvest lies waiting there to be reaped. 



" What a glorious privilege it would be, could we live back — 

 were it but for an instant — into those ancient times when these 

 extinct animals peopled the earth ! to see them all congregated 

 together in one grand natural menagerie — these mastodons and 

 elephants, so numerous in species, toiling their ponderous forms 

 and trumpeting their march in countless herds through the swamps 

 and reedy forests ! to view the giant Sivatherium, armed in front 

 with four horns, spurning the timidity of his race, and, ruminant 

 though he be, proud in his strength, and bellowing his sturdy 

 career in defiance of all aggression ! And then the graceful 

 giraffes, flitting their shadowy forms like spectres through the 

 trees, mixed wdth troops of large as well as pigmy horses, and 

 camels, antelopes, and deer ! And then, last of all, by way of 

 contrast, to contemplate the colossus of the tortoise race, heaving 

 his unwieldy frame, and stamping his toilsome march along 

 plains which hardly look over strong to sustain him ! 



"Assuredly it would be a heart-stirring sight to behold ! But 

 although we may not actually enjoy the effect of the living 



