PACHYDERMATA. 153 



ing the tusks much longer in proportion, and the lower jaw more 

 obtuse. A specimen recently taken from the ice on the coast of Si- 

 beria, by Mr. Adams, appears to have been thickly covered with 

 hairs of two kinds, so that it is possible this species may have lived 

 in cold climates. It has long disappeared from the face of the 

 earth (a). See Cuv. Oss. Foss. tom. I. 

 The second genus of the Proboscidiana, or the 



Mastodon, Cuv. 



Has been completely destroyed, nor is there a single individual living. 

 It had the feet, tusks, trunk, and many other details of conformation in 

 common with the Elephant; but differed from it in the grinders, the 

 crown of which, from above the gum, being bristled with large conical 

 points, presented, in proportion to their detrition, larger or smaller disks, 

 which represented sections of those points.* These teeth, which suc- 

 ceed each other from behind, like those of the Elephant, presented also 

 so many more pairs of points as the animal was the more advanced in age. 

 M. giganteum, Cuv. loc. cit. The great Mastodon, in which the 

 sections of the points are lozenge-shaped, is the most celebrated 

 species. It equalled the Elephant in size, but with still heavier 

 proportions. Its remains are found in a wonderful state of preserva- 

 tion, and in great abundance throughout all parts of North America. 

 They are infinitely more rare in the old continent. 



M. angustidens, Cuv. loc. cit., or the Narrow- toothed Mastodon, 

 whose grinders, narrower than those of the preceding species, when 

 worn down formed trefoil-shaped disks, and have thereby been con- 

 founded by some authors -with the teeth of the hippopotamus, was a 

 third less than the great mastodon, and much lower on its legs. Its 

 remains are found throughout the greater part of Europe and of 

 South America. In certain places, the teeth, tinged with iron, be- 

 come of a beautiful blue when heated, forming what is called the 

 oriental turquoise (6).'f 



* This conformation, common to the Mastodon, Hippopotamus, Hog, &c., has 

 occasioned the erroneous idea of the first being carnivorous. 



t Other less widely dispersed species have been discovered; see Oss. Foss.: and 

 very lately some remarkable ones have been brought from the Burmese empire, a 

 description of which we are expecting from M. Buckland, Mast, latidens, M. elephan- 

 toides, &c. 



^T (a) Bishop Heber described an Elephant which he saw in the Himalayan 

 mountains, about the size of an Ox, and as " shaggy as a poodle-dog." On the 

 Oyster banks off Hasburgh, on the coast of Norfolk, many hundreds of the grind- 

 ing teeth of Elephants have been found, nor is there a county in England in which 

 such teeth have not at some time or another been detected. — Eng. Ed. 



|gg° (6) Fragments of the teeth of this animal have been found in Norfolk crag, 

 the only instance yet known in Great Britain. The Indians of North America are 

 persuaded that the Great Mastodon exists in the living state in the unexplored re- 

 gions of that country. — Eng. Ed. 



