312 



prevent which, Cuvier has favoured us with the distinctive 

 characters of the several bones of both animals. But, as the 

 bones are, generally, exceedingly mutilated, it appears to 

 be sufficient here to point out the differences between the 

 teeth of these animals. 



The teeth of the upper jaw of the horse are, like those 

 of the ox and buffalo, of a prismatic form, with four double 

 crescents, and with an additional one in the middle of the 

 inner margin. The lower teeth are more compressed, they 

 also have four crescents in the horse as in the ox ; but, in 

 the former, instead of being parallel, two and two, they are 

 alternate, the first of the inner side corresponding with the 

 interval between the two on the outer side. 



Ruminantia or Bisulca. — The preserved remains of the 

 different genera of this tribe of animals are, from the general 

 agreement in their characters, very difficult to be distin- 

 guished. Horns, resembling those of the common stag, are 

 very frequently found in beds of alluvial formation. But they 

 are also found associated with the remains of elephants, 

 rhinoceroses, and hippopotami, in beds of a greyish calca- 

 reous deposition in the upper parts of the London clay in 

 Essex, and at Brentford, in Middlesex. 



Irish Elk. — The remains of this animal were formerly 

 found only in the boggy soil of some parts of Ireland, and 

 hence it has obtained its distinctive appellation. They have, 

 however, within these iew years, been found on the Rhone ; 

 near North Dreighton, in Yorkshire ; and, a few years ago, 

 I found some of their remains at Walton, in Essex. The 

 magnitude of these horns may be presumed, from the dis- 

 tance between the extreme tip of each horn, which is ten 

 feet ten inches. It is rendered certain, by a careful com- 

 parison, that this animal is at present unknown, and was 

 materially different from the reindeer or elk of these times. 



