ZOOLOGICAL ZONES 1533 



Megatherium and Megalonyx in both South and 

 North America, and perished apparently with them, 

 before the human period. Elephants are dependent 

 chiefly upon trees for food. One species now finds 

 conditions of existence in the rich forests of tropical 

 Asia; and a second species in those of tropical Africa. 

 Why, we may ask, should not a third be living at the 

 expense of the still more luxuriant vegetation watered 

 by the Orinoco, the Essequibo, the Amazon, and 

 La Plata, in tropical America? Geology tells us 

 that at least two kinds of elephant (Mastodon An- 

 dium and Mastodon Humboldtii) formerly did de- 

 rive their subsistence, along with the great Me- 

 gatheroid beasts, from that abundant source. Nay, 

 more; at least two kinds of elephant (Mastodon 

 ohioticus and Elephas texianus) existed in the warm 

 and temperate latitudes of North America. Twice 

 as many species of mastodon and elephant, distinct 

 from all the others, roamed in Pliocene times in the 

 same latitude of Europe. At a later or Pleistocene 

 period, a huge elephant, clothed with wool and hair, 

 obtained its food from hardy trees, such as now grow 

 in the 65th degree of north latitude; and abundant 

 remains of this Elephas primigenius (as it has been 

 prematurely called, since it was the last of the Brit- 

 ish elephants) have been found in temperate and 

 high northern latitudes in Europe, Asia, and Amer- 

 ica. This, like other Arctic animals,' was peculiar 

 in its family for its longitudinal range. The musk 

 buffalo was its contemporary in England and Eu- 

 rope, and still lingers in the northernmost parts of 

 America. 



