AGE OF MAMMALS. 271 



it to think of monkeys as being in England, and yet re- 

 mains of them are found in that locality as far back even 

 as the strata of the Eocene. 



381. Cetacea. The most remarkable of the Cetaceans 

 of this age is the Zeuglodon cetoides, a tooth of which 

 is seen represented of its natural size in Fig. 163. The 



tooth is yoke-shaped, and hence the name given to the 

 animal, which is derived from two Greek words, zeuglon, 

 a yoke, and odons, tooth. Its remains were first noticed 

 by Dr. Harlan, of Philadelphia, who in 1832 described a 

 vertebra weighing 44 pounds, which was brought from 

 the Washita. He referred the animal to which it be- 

 longed to a new genus, which he called Basilosaurus 

 that is, king of the Saurians, supposing it to be reptilian 

 in character. It has since, however, been proved to be- 

 long to the whale tribe. Its vertebra? were formerly so 

 abundant in the State of Alabama that they were used 

 very commonly in making walls. Some of them are a 

 foot and a half in length, and a foot in diameter. Lyell 

 saw the vertebral column of one skeleton which extend- 

 ed on the ground nearly 70 feet. 



