EXTINCT WHALES AND WOMBATS 299 



" Bones of the Basilosaurus have been found in many parts of 

 Alabama and South Carolina, in greensand belonging to a very 

 ancient Tertiary formation ; hundreds of vertebrae, bones of the 

 extremities, portions of the cranium and of the jaws with teeth 

 have from time to time been collected. Eemains of species of 

 the same genus have also been found near Bordeaux and in 

 Malta. 



"Professor Owen has shown that the original animal was a 

 marine cetacean, holding an intermediate position between the 

 Cachalots and the herbivorous species. It must have attained 

 a length equal to that of the largest living whales, for a series 



FIG. 110. Head of Squalodon, from Miocene strata, Bavaria. 



of vertebrae was observed in situ that extended in a line sixty-five 

 feet. . . . 



" GIDEON ALGERNON MANTELL. 



" 19, Chester Square, Pimlico, Oct. 31, 1848." 



Squalodon (see Fig. 110) represents another extinct genus of 

 cetaceans, of which very little is known beyond the teeth and 

 skull. It was formerly classified with Zeuglodon, but its skull is 

 more like that of a dolphin, although the teeth are somewhat like 

 those of the former. Teeth and fragments of skulls of Squalodon 

 have been frequently found in the marine European deposits of 

 Miocene age especially in the Vienna basin, many parts of 

 France, and the Crag formations of Antwerp and of Suffolk ; also 



