SOME AMERICAN MONSTERS. 151 
elaborated or highly developed parts which we see in such 
animals to-day. . Thus the proboscis of the elephant is a greatly 
elongated nose; in other words, the elephant is highly “ special- 
ised” in that direction, whereas our Dinoceras had no proboscis, 
or only a very slight one. 
Again, the six remarkable bony protuberances of the skull 
served to some extent as horns, and probably were covered 
with thick bosses of skin, and did not support true horns 
Fic. 43.—Skull of Dinoceras mirabile. (After Marsh.) 
like those of our modern oxen and other ruminants. Speaking 
of these protuberances, Professor Marsh says, “‘ None of the 
covering of these elevations, or horn-cores, has, of course, been 
preserved ; yet a fortunate discovery may perhaps reveal their 
nature by the form of a natural cast, as the eyeball of the 
Oreodon is sometimes thus clearly indicated in the fine 
Miocene matrix which envelops these animals.” It looks rather 
as if we have here an early stage in the evolution of horns, 
