230 THE BONES OF TEUTOBOCHUS 



The last genus of the family Elephantidae is Mastodon, so called 

 from the structure of the molar teeth. These are provided witli 

 but few transverse ridges, not more than five, so that their structure 

 is intermediate between those of Dinotheruim and those of Stegodon. 

 Between the ridges are sometimes isolated, boss-like protul)erances 

 (whence the name of Mastodon), produced hj a subdivision of the 

 ridges. There is either but little or no cemeiit between the ridges. 

 This genus differs from nearly all other Elephantidae hj the posses- 

 sion of milk molars, which occasionally persist throughout life, the 

 permanent dentition in those cases being a mixture of milk 

 and permanent teeth, as has Ijeen (erroneously) stated of the 

 Hedgehog.^ 



The tusks (incisors) are sometimes present in both jaws, and 

 as they have, during youth at any rate, a coating of enamel, the 

 likeness to the chisel-shaped incisors of Eodents is patent. In 

 connexion with the implantation of incisors in the lower jaw, 

 many species have a prolongation of the bones of that part of 

 the skeleton. In the bones, generally, there is not very much 

 difference from Elephas, but the forehead is a little less pro- 

 nounced. The genus existed from the Miocene and became 

 extinct in the Pleistocene. It was nearly world-wide in range, 

 being known from all four continents. Naturally with this very 

 wide range was associated a large nmuljer of species. Zittel 

 enumerates no less than thirty-two. 



This genus is the only one of the Elephantidae which extended 

 its range into South America, where the remains of two species 

 occur. The bones of these great Elephants have attracted attention 

 for some centm'ies. They were often held to be the bones of 

 giants (as they actually were !), and in one case were ascribed to a 

 deceased monarch, Teutol)ochus. The American Indians considered 

 that ecjually gigantic men lived who w^ere able to combat these 

 great Proboscideans. There are legends of the Mastodons as living 

 animals, which is quite probable, considering their geological age. 

 There is a curious parallelism between the legends of two such 

 widely-separated localities as North America and Greece. Buffon 

 relates how among the Indians of Canada there was a belief that 

 the Great Being destroyed both Mastodons and men of equal 

 proportions, with thunderbolts. With this we may perhaps com- 

 pare the story of the destruction of Typhoeus by Zeus, who 



' See Busk in Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. 1S68, p. 227. 



