AGE OF MAMMALS. 297 



cies of elephant existing at the present time, he averred 

 that it was another species. He averred, farther, that 

 the mammoth was a species belonging to a previous age 

 and now extinct, the proofs of which soon became very 

 abundant from the investigations that were prompted by 

 the teachings of Cuvier. It was shortly after this that 

 the discoveries were made at Montmartre, as noticed in 

 383, and these awakened a general interest in palaeon- 

 tological investigations. 



408. Mastodons. These animals, one species of which 

 is represented at the right of Fig. 173, differed so decid- 

 edly from the mammoths as to constitute another genus. 

 This genus is now extinct, while that of the mammoths, 

 or elephants, still exists, there being now two living spe- 

 cies, the Indian and the African elephant, for descriptions 

 of which I refer you to my " Natural History," page 80. 

 The teeth of the mastodon differ very much from those 

 of the mammoth, having the enamel raised up in conical 

 eminences, as seen on the right of Fig. 174, instead of the 



Fig. 174. 



arrangement in ridges of the mammoth, as represented 

 at the left of the figure. The Mastodon giganteus, an 

 entire skeleton of which is in the Palaeontological Gal- 

 lery of the British Museum, considerably exceeded in 

 size the largest elephant of the present time. Its bones 

 N2 



