322 FAMILY ELEPHANTIDJE ; MAMMOTH, FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



those which the Elephants of the present day inhabit. Still it 

 cannot be imagined that the temperature of Siberia, at the time 

 when the Mammoths were the denizens of its wilds, was as cold 

 as at present ; since there would not have been a sufficient 

 amount of vegetation for the support of any numbers of these 

 immense Quadrupeds. And the belief that, from some Geolo- 

 gical causes, a change of climate has taken place in that region 



FIG. 163. SKELETON OF MAMMOTH. 



since they inhabited it, to which change the extinction of the 

 race is due, finds confirmation from the corresponding facts 

 already stated ( 206), regarding the former inhabitants of our 

 own country. It is probable that many other complete carcases 

 of the Mammoth may still remain, buried beneath the ice and 

 frozen soil of Siberia. In its general structure, and in the 

 arrangement of the plates of enamel in its molar teeth, the 

 Mammoth approached the Asiatic Elephant, more nearly than 

 the African species; the most obvious difference is the large size of 

 the alveoli, or sockets for the tusks, and the greater curvature of 

 the tusks. Numerous remains of other species of Elephants are 

 found in almost every part of Europe, and also in America ; they 

 are usually buried in the most recent and slightly-consolidated 

 strata, such as the alluvium filling the bottom of valleys or 

 forming the borders of rivers, the mud of certain caverns, the 

 crag formation of the eastern side of our island, and other fresh 



