THE PROBOSCIDJE, OR ELEPHANTS. 



237 



43), from which it was supposed to be a footless, 

 aquatic animal, and that, by means of its two 

 tusks which projected from the lower jaws and 

 curved downwards, it probably moored itself to the 

 shore while resting or sleeping. No whole skeleton 

 of this animal has, it is true, yet been discovered 

 in connection with 

 the skull, but to 

 judge from various 

 remains of bones, 

 which in all pro- 

 bability belonged to 

 it, it seems certain 

 that the structure 

 of the Dinotherium 

 was of the Elephant 

 species, and that 



some kind of pro- FIG. 43. Skull of Dinotherium gigan- 

 T ,1 teum. One twenty-fourth nat. size. 



boscis must be sup- 

 posed to have been suspended from the elongated 

 nasal bones. It is restored thus in our most eminent 

 works on palaeontology, and the correctness of the 

 supposition is confirmed by a comparison of the 

 molars with those of the early mastodons. The 

 form and manner of succession of these molars, five 

 being able to be in use at the same time, lead to 



