3 20 



HISTORICAL PALEONTOLOGY. 



early as the. Miocene period, the first of them being exclusively 

 confined to deposits of this age. Of the three, the genus 

 Deinotheriwn is much the most abnormal in its characters; 

 so much so, that good authorities regard it as really being one 

 of the Sea-cows (Sirenia) though this view has been rendered 

 untenable by the discovery of limb-bones which can hardly 

 belong to any other animal, and which are distinctly Probosci- 

 dean in type. The most celebrated skull of the Deinothere 

 (fig. 246) is one which was exhumed from the Upper Miocene 

 deposits of Epplesheim, in Hesse- 

 Darmstadt, in the year 1836. 

 This skull was four and a half 

 feet in length, and indicated an 

 animal larger than any existing 

 species of Elephant. The upper 

 jaw is destitute of incisor or 

 canine teeth, but is furnished on. 

 each side with five molars, which 

 are opposed to a corresponding 

 series of grinding teeth in the 

 lower jaw. No canines are pre- 

 sent in the lower jaw ; but the 

 front portion of the jaw is ab- 

 ruptly bent downwards, and car- 

 ries two huge tusk-like incisor 

 teeth, which are curved down- 

 wards and backwards, and the use of which is rather proble- 

 matical. Not only does the Deinothere occur in Europe, but 

 remains belonging to this genus have also been detected in the 

 Siwalik Hills, in India. 



The true Elephants (Elephas] do not appear to have ex- 

 isted during the Miocene period in Europe, but several species 

 have been detected in the Upper Miocene deposits of the 

 Siwalik Hills, in India. The fossil forms, though in all cases 

 specifically, and in some cases even sub-generically, distinct, 

 agree with those now in existence in the general conformation 

 of their skeleton, and in the principal characters of their den- 

 tition. In all, the canine teeth are wanting in both jaws ; and 

 there are no incisor teeth in the lower jaw, whilst there are 

 two incisors in the front of the upper jaw, which are de- 

 veloped into two huge " tusks." There are six molar teeth 

 on each side of both the upper and lower jaw, but only 

 one, or at most a part of two, is in actual use at any given 

 time ; and as this becomes worn away, it is pushed forward 

 and replaced by its successor behind it. The molars are of 



Fig. 246. Skull of Deinotltern 

 giganteum, greatly reduced. Fr 

 the Upper Miocene of Germany. 



