3^^ 



NATURE 



{August 8, 1878 



on account o.'^ the peculiar appearance of the teeth, which 

 seemed to consist of plates of enamel longitudinally 

 folded. Later scattered teeth of this animal were found 

 in Hungary, in Sicily, and in various Russian provinces. 

 A few years since a complete under-jawbone was dis- 

 covered at Petrowski ; a fragment of the back part of a 

 skull in the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, 

 which was discovered on the banks of the Rhine in the 

 last century, has likewise lately been identified as 



Fig. I. — Side view of the skull of the Elasmotherium 



belonging to the elasmotherium. These remains were 

 altogether too limited, to offer the zoologist any satisfac- 

 tory clue to the general character of this animal. While 

 the form and size of the jaw showed a strong resemblance 

 to that of the rhinoceros; a close relationship was forbidden 

 by the peculiar characteristics of the teeth. 



Interesting as were the questions arising with regard to 

 the nature and habits of this extinct resident of Europe, 

 they have hitherto remained unanswered, until a fortu- 

 nate discovery at the beginning of the present year, 

 placed the zoologist in possession of a well-preserved 

 skull of the elasmotherium. This object, certainly the 

 most valuable of late palseontological discoveries, was 

 found attached to the net of some fishermen in the river 

 Volga, not far from its mouth, a district which has fur- 

 nished many valuable remains of the extinct fauna of 

 Russia. The St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences has 

 become the fortunate recipient of the newly-found 

 treasure, and to one of its members. Dr. Alexander 

 Brandt, the scientific world owes the first complete 

 summary of the deductions drawn from the study of this 

 skull, as well as its detailed description. Besides his 

 communication on the subject to the Academy, he has 

 published a longer article in the Russian periodical Ntwa, 

 and translated it likewise into German. 



The skull (Fig. i) itself has the following dimensions. 

 Length 33 inches, height, including the under-jaw. 2i| 

 inches, breadth i6| inches. Its most striking feature is an 

 enormous bony protuberance on the brow. This is hemi- 

 spherical in shape, possessing a circumference of over 3 

 feet, and projecting forward about 5 inches, and is hollow, 

 forming a portion of the frontal cavity. Unusual develop- 

 ments of this cavity are noticeable in the skull of the 

 ordinary cow, and more especially in those of the elephant 

 and rhinoceros. As in the case of the latter animal, the 

 protuberance of the skull of the elasmotherium presents 

 a rough, uneven surface, traversed by deep furrows once 

 occupied by blood vessels. The whole analogy with the 

 rhinoceros points with the greatest certainty to the 

 previous existence of a horn, which, to judge from the 

 size of the blood-vessels once encircling the base, must 

 have possessed enormous dimensions, and easily exceeded 



the length of the skull itself. The presence of a similar, 

 rough protuberance of much smaller dimensions lower 

 down towards the nostrils, would incline to the supposi- 

 tion that a second smaller horn was likewise present on 

 the elasmotherium. 



The front view of the skull bears a general resem- 

 blance to that of a horse or a ruminating animal. The 

 rear portion of the skull, however, shows the relationship 

 with the rhinoceros, and this relationship, at least, to the 

 extinct rhinoceros, is still more strongly 

 evidenced by the bony partition dividing 

 the nasal cavity, a most peculiar and 

 characteristic anatomical formation ; for 

 with the exception of these two animals, 

 all other mammals known to us possess 

 simply a cartilaginous division in this 

 cavity. The structure of the teeth (Fig. 

 2) presents, on the contrary, no points 

 of similarity with that of the rhinoceros. 

 They are composed of winding folds of 

 plates of enamel, extending the whole 

 length of the tooth, and presenting, on 

 the upper surface, an odd foliated ap- 

 pearance. 



To judge from the skull in question 

 the elasmotherium was most closely 

 allied to the rhinoceros family, standing 

 between it and the horse. Its propor- 

 tions surpassed, however, those of any 

 of its congeners, thus far known, exist- 

 ing or extinct. The proportions of the 

 skull would point to a length of body 

 ranging between 14 and 16 feet. With 

 regard to the form of the body and limbs, nothing 

 definite can be said. The nose was much narrower than 

 that of the rhinoceros, while the eyes were larger, and 

 the powers of vision of the elasmotherium, therefore, 

 probably greater than those of the rhinoceros. Analogy 

 with the contemporary rhinoceros and mammoth of 



Fig. z. — Grinding surface of tooth (natural size). 



Siberia would warrant the supposition of the presence of 

 a shaggy coat of hair. 



The absolute, as well as the comparative size of the 

 cranial cavity would assign to the elasmotherium a low 

 decree of intelligence. Dr. Brandt pictures it 'as_ an 



