358 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 



this case there is a very interesting fossil relic of this kind 

 the half of the lower jaw of a gigantic animal allied to the 

 existing genus Castor, which was discovered by the Rev. J. 

 Green, in a lacustrine deposit of clay and sand at Ostend, 

 near Bacton, on the coast of Norfolk ; a locality which has 

 yielded remains of mammoths, deer, roe-bucks, large water- 

 moles, &C. 1 



The incisor (which is longer and stronger than in the 

 existing Beavers), the molar teeth, and the articulation of the 

 jaw, are beautifully displayed in this highly interesting British 

 example of a gigantic extinct rodent, whose relics were first 

 discovered in Russia, a cranium having been found by M. 

 Fischer, on the borders of the Sea of Azof, in 1822. 2 The 

 original was probably about one fifth longer than the common 

 species of Beaver. The skull and jaws of a much larger ro- 

 dent related to the Castor, has lately been discovered in the 



LIGN. 74. LOWER JAW OF AN EXTINCT GIGANTIC BEAVER, FROM OSTEND, 

 NORFOLK. (^ nat. size.) 



alluvial deposits that contain the remains of Mastodons, in; 

 the State of Ohio. An admirable memoir on this cranium has 

 been published by the eminent American palaeontologist, Dr.j 

 Jeffries Wyman. The name of Castoroides Ohioensis has been 

 given to this colossal beaver ; the entire length of the original 



1 See Professor Owen's elegant and interesting " History of British : 

 Fossil Mammals," p. 25. 



2 Described by Baron Cuvier, under the name of Castor Trogonthe-4 

 T ium, " Oss. Foss." Vol. v. Part I. p. 59. 



