CHAPTER V. PART IV. 

 FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 



RHIKOCEROS IRISH ELK SIVATHERITJM. 



FOSSIL RHINOCEROS. Wall-case E. With the fossil remains of Rumi- 

 nants described in a previous chapter (ante, p. 389), those of the 

 Rhinoceros are very commonly associated. The collection in this Case 

 consists of crania, jaws, many fine series of the teeth, and other parts of 

 the skeleton, of two species of this genus of pachyderms: they are 

 chiefly from the post-tertiary fresh-water deposits in the valley of the 

 Thames. There are also two or three crania of Rhinoceros from the 

 frozen soil of Siberia. 



The fossil remains of one species of this genus (R. tichorinus), are 

 very abundant all over Europe in the ancient alluvial deposits, and in 

 the bone-caves. The most extraordinary fact relating to the fossil 

 Rhinoceros, is the discovery of the entire carcass in frozen sand, on the 

 banks of the Wilaji in Siberia. The head was large, and sustained two 

 very long horns ; there were no incisor teeth ; the skin had the ap- 

 pearance of leather, and was thinly covered with short hairs ; it was 

 not loose and in large folds as in the living species. 1 



The fossils in this collection belong to the Rhinoceros tichorinus? 

 and R. leptorhinus. 3 The former is characterised by the prolongation 

 of the nasal bones in front of the nose, and their union with the in- 

 cisives : the ordinary cartilaginous septum which separates the nostrils 

 being osseous almost to the extremity. The incisor teeth were either 

 rudimentary or altogether absent. 



This animal somewhat resembled the two-horned Rhinoceros of the 

 Cape ; but the structure of the nose, jaws, teeth, and skin, distinguishes it. 

 It is by far the most common fossil species, and must have anciently 

 existed in immense numbers throughout Europe, and been adapted to 

 inhabit more northern latitudes than the recent species. The Siberian 

 fossils belong to this type. 



The other Rhinoceros of which there are remains in the Museum, 

 is the R. leptorhinus, which is separated from that last described, not 

 by the difference in the structure of the nostrils, as the name would seem 

 to import, but by well-marked maxillary and dental characters ; as 

 demonstrated in " Brit. Fossil Mammalia," p. 356. 



FOSSIL ELK OP IRELABD, (Cervus megaceros.) Plan No. 15. The 

 shell-marls of Ireland contain in abundance the bones of an animal 

 which, like the Dodo, and the Moa, was once contemporary with the 

 human species, but has long been extinct ; the last individuals of the 

 race were, in all probability, exterminated by the early Celtic tribes. The 

 remains of this noble creature generally occur in the deposits of marl that 



1 See "Wonders of Geology," pp. 152, 171. 



2 " Rhinoceros fossil e & narines cloisonnees," of Cuvier. 



3 " Rhinoceros, a narines non-cloisonnees et sans incisives," of Cuvier. 



