EXTINCT WHALES AND WOMBATS 295 



extinct whale, known as Zeuglodon cetoides, 1 and so called from 

 the yoke-like form of its double-fanged molar teeth, which are six 

 inches in length. It has also been found in Mississippi, Georgia, 

 South Carolina, and Egypt. No strata of later date than the 

 Eocene period contain its remains, as far as we know ; and it 

 has never been found out of the Northern Hemisphere. Zeuglodon 

 must certainly have been a very remarkable creature, and it is 

 to be hoped that palaeontologists will some day meet with a 

 complete skeleton, such as may afford the material for showing 

 its entire bony structure. Unfortunately, although a great many 

 finds have been made in Alabama, no complete skeleton has yet 

 been got together. The remains of at least forty individuals 

 have been met with, so that we may venture to say that this 

 ancient cetacean once flourished vigorously. So numerous are 

 the vertebrae in the above-mentioned locality that it is said they 

 are used for making fences, and that farmers even burn the 

 bones in order to get rid of them ! How little they know that 

 hundreds of museum curators all over the world would be only 

 too glad to procure some of this " rubbish " ! With the spread 

 of education, and an increasing desire to learn a little about the 

 former history of our world, let us hope that in time agriculturists 

 will endeavour to co-operate with men of science in rescuing 

 from destruction the fossilised remains of the earth's former 

 inhabitants. 



Sir K. Owen declared the Zeuglodon to have been " one of the 

 most extraordinary of the Mammalia which the revolutions of 

 the globe have blotted out of the number of existing beings." 

 Some of the vertebras found in Alabama have a length of eighteen 

 inches, and a diameter of twelve inches, while the whole of the 

 backbone, or vertebral column, has been found undisturbed. 



1 Greek zeugle, yoke ; odous, odontos, tooth. 



