THE PAL^OTHERIUM 95 



these enormous animals there existed men of propor- 

 tionate development, and that the Great Being destroyed 

 both with thunderbolts. Those of Virginia state that, 

 as a troop of these terrible quadrupeds were destroying 

 the deer, the bisons, and the other animals created for 

 the use of the Indians, the Great Man slew them all 

 with his thunder, except the Big Bull, who, nothing 

 daunted, presented his enormous forehead to the bolts, 

 and shook them off as they fell, till, being at last 

 wounded in the side, he fled towards the great lakes, 

 where he is to this day. 



Besides the Mastodon gigantetts, the following species 

 are distinguished : M. Angustidens (Europe, America?), 

 M. andium (Andes), M. Humboldtii (Concepcion — 

 Chili), M. minutus, M. topiroides, M. Turicensis, M. 

 Avernensis (Epplesheim, Puy-de-D6me), M. elephan- 

 toides (Irawaddi, Sewalik Mountains), M. latidens (Ira- 

 waddi, Sewalik Mountains), and M. longirostris, Kaup. 

 Professor Owen has referred the teeth from the Norfolk 

 crag to the last-named species. 



The Pal^otherium. 



In the gypsum-quarries near Paris and in various 

 parts of France have been discovered the fossil relics of 

 a group of Pachydermatous animals, to which Cuvier 

 gave the title of PalcEOtherium. Ten or eleven species 

 are recognised, varying from the size of a rhinoceros to 

 that of a hog. The most immediate alliance of these 

 fossil forms is to the tapir, and they perhaps take an 

 intermediate station between that animal and the rhino- 

 ceros. The bones of the nose prove that the Palaeo- 

 theria must have been furnished with a short proboscis ; 

 the toes were three in number on each foot : the dentition 

 consisted of 6 incisors in each jaw ; canines, as usual ; 

 and 7 molars on each side above and below. 



Figs. 50 and 51 represent respectively outlines of the 

 Palccotherium magnum and Palceotherium minus, as re- 

 stored by Cuvier ; Figs. 52 and 53 represent the skele- 

 tons of the same animals ; Fig. 54 is an imperfect skull 

 of PalcEOtherium magnum ; Fig. 55 shows the characters 



