MASTODON AND WOOLLY RHINOCEROS. 219 



extended both north and south into temperate regions, and in 

 America its remains have been discovered as high as latitude 66° N. 

 But the true home of the Mastodon giganteus, in the United 

 States, hke that of M. augustidens in Europe, lies in a more 

 temperate zone, and, as Professor Owen says, we have no evidence 

 that any species was specially adapted, like the Mammoth, for 

 braving the rigours of an arctic winter. 



Now, we know from trustworthy geological evidence that the 

 Mastodon is a much older form of life than the Mammoth. The 

 record of the rocks tells us that it first put in an appearance in an 

 early Tertiary period known as the Miocene (see Table of Strata, 

 Appendix I.), and in the Old World lived on to the end of the 

 succeeding Pliocene period. But in America several species, 

 especially M. giganteus, survived till late in the Pleistocene period, 

 where it was probably seen by primitive men. This is all that is 

 known about its geographical range, and its antiquity or range in 

 time ; some day, perhaps before very long, palaeontologists may be 

 able to trace the great proboscideans further back in time, and to 

 show from what form of animal they were derived. Strange as it 

 may seem, anatomists declare that they show some remote affinity 

 with the rodents, or gnawing animals, and, in some respects, even 

 with Sirenians, such as the Manatee (see Chapter XVI.). But 

 at present the evolution of this remarkable group of animals is an 

 unsolved problem. Those strange animals, the Dinocerata, from 

 Wyoming, described in chap, x., may perhaps give some indi- 

 cation as to the direction in which we must look for the elephant's 

 ancestors. We noticed that their limbs were decidedly elephantine 

 (see p. 150), but they had no trunks, and their skulls showed curious 

 prominences like horn-cores ; their teeth too are very different. 



The visitor to the Geological Collection at South Kensington 



will also notice a splendid cranium of an elephant, with very long 



tusks, from the famous Sivalik Hills of Northern India ^ (Stand 



' There is some difficulty in determining the precise geological age of the 

 strata in question, on account of the curious mixture of fossil forms of life they 

 contain ; but many authorities consider them to be of older Pliocene age. 



