218 



EXTINCT MONSTERS. 



regard to the proper relation of the Mastodon to the Mammoth 

 and living elephants. 



At the entrance of the Geological Gallery in the Natural History 

 Museum, South Kensington, the reader will see a magnificent 

 skeleton of an American Mastodon, of which more presently. 

 On this specimen our artist has based his restoration, Plate XXI. 

 A large part of the great gallery referred to is devoted to the 

 fossil remains of proboscideans ; that is, creatures provided with 

 a long proboscis, or trunk, such as elephants and Mastodons. 

 This collection, from widely different quarters, is the largest and 



FlG. 54- Skeleton of ]\fastodon arvermnsis, Pliocene, Europe. 



most complete in the world. By comparing the specimens of 

 teeth in the cases, and looking at the fine specimens of skulls, 

 and the numerous bones and tusks in the side cases, the reader 

 will carry away a better idea than we can convey by description. 

 Fig. 54 shows the skeleton of Mastodon arvernensis with two 

 very long tusks. Mastodon augustidens had four tusks, two in 

 each jaw, but one of those in the lower jaw sometimes dropped 

 out as the animal grew older. 



No genus of quadrupeds has been more extensively diffused 

 over the globe than the Mastodon. From the tropics it has 



