268 



EXTINCT MONSTERS 



and the proboscis greatly increased in size, being left entirely free 

 and unsupported. These remarkable changes have been well 

 summed up by Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.E.S., in the following 

 words: "They gradually increased in size without essentially 

 altering their limbs and body ; but as their legs lengthened and 

 their neck shortened, their face and chin gradually became 

 elongated to reach the ground for browsing. When this strange 

 adaptation had reached its maximum degree, the chin suddenly 

 shrivelled, leaving the flexible, toothless face without any support. 



FIG. 104. Skeleton of Mastodon arvemensis, Pliocene, Europe. 



Thus arose the unique proboscis of the Elephants, which has 

 become prehensile by stages which cannot be traced, because soft 

 parts are not preserved in ordinary geological formations." 



During the Miocene period there lived a strange kind of 

 elephant known as the Dinotherium. No complete skeleton is 

 known, but the skull, limb-bones, vertebrae, etc., have been found. 

 The skull was discovered at Eppelsheim, in Hesse-Darmstadt, and 

 other remains in France, Greece, and Asia Minor, also closely 

 allied forms in India, but none in America. We learn from the 



