370 HISTORICAL PALEONTOLOGY. 



finally exterminated till about the twelfth century. Another 

 remarkable member of the Post-Pliocene Cattle, also to be- 

 gin with an associate of the Mammoth and Rhinoceros, is 

 the European Bison or "Aurochs" (Bison priscus}. This 

 " maned " ox formerly abounded in Europe in Post-Glacial 

 times, and was not rare even in the later periods of the 

 Roman empire, though much diminished in numbers, and 

 driven back into the wilder and more inaccessible parts of the 

 country. At present this fine species has been so nearly 

 exterminated that it no longer exists in Europe save in 

 Lithuania, where its preservation has been secured by rigid 

 protective laws. Lastly, the Post-Pliocene deposits have 

 yielded the remains of the singular living animals which is 

 known as the Musk-ox or Musk-sheep (Ovibos moschatus}. 

 At the present day, the Musk-ox is an inhabitant of the 

 " barren grounds " of Arctic America, and it is remarkable for 

 the great length of its hair. It is, like the Reindeer, a dis- 

 tinctively northern animal ; but it enjoyed during the Glacial 

 period a much wider range than it has at the present day, the 

 conditions -suitable for its existence being then extended over 

 a considerable portion of the northern hemisphere. Thus 

 remains of the Musk-Ox are found in greater or less abun- 

 dance in Post-Pliocene deposits over a great part of Europe, 

 extending even to the south of France; and closely-related 

 forms are found in similar deposits in the United States. 



Coming to the Proboscideans, we find that the Mastodons 

 seem to have disappeared in Europe at the close of the 

 Pliocene period, or at the very commencement of the Post- 

 Pliocene. In the New World, on the other hand, a species of 

 Mastodon (M. Americanus or M. Ohioticus} is found abun- 

 dantly in deposits of Post-Pliocene age, from Canada to 

 Texas. Very perfect skeletons of this species have been 

 exhumed from morasses and swamps, and large individuals 

 attained a length (exclusive of the tusks) of seventeen feet and 

 a height of eleven feet, the tusks being twelve feet in length. 

 Remains of Elephants are also abundant in the Post-pliocene 

 deposits of both the Old and the New World. Amongst these, 

 we find in Europe the two familiar Pliocene species, E. meri- 

 dionalis and E. antiquus, still surviving, but in diminished 

 numbers. With these are found in vast abundance the re- 

 mains of the characteristic Elephant of the Post-Pliocene, the 

 well-known "Mammoth" (Elephas primigenius}, which is ac- 

 companied in North America by the nearly-allied, but more 



