t>i NO'JVCS ANJp 



and Chili ; so that I can prove the existence and destruction of these gigantic 

 elephants, from the Ohio to the country of the Patagonians." Philosophical 

 Magazine^ vol. 16. 



The discoveries of such enormous remains turned the attention of philosophers 

 to the living elephants, and it has been satisfactorily established, that there are 

 two distinct species of them ; whereas before they were considered varieties ; 

 the asiatic, denominated elephas indicus, and the african, termed elephas ca- 

 pensis. The elephas capensis has the front of the head convex and inclined, the 

 tusks larger, and the perpendicular layers of enamel, which, with the softer os- 

 seous matter, compose the grinders, exhibiting on the top or worn surface a num- 

 ber of rhomboidal spaces, and which are equally observable in a transverse sec- 

 tion of the tooth. The elephas indicus is larger j the front of the skull, instead 

 of being convex, is deeply concave, and the upper part so dilated as to exhibit 

 two pyramidal elevations : and the grinders have the enamel layers disposed in 

 the osseous substance, in distinct transverse parrallel lines, instead of rhomboidal 

 compartments. Its height appears to be from ten to fourteen feet, and one of 

 ~Jhe larger size is generally about sixteen feet long, from. the front to the origin 

 of the tail. The circumference of the neck seventeen feet, and of the body, in 

 its most dilated part, about twenty six feet. The legs are short, and about six 

 feet in circumference ; the tail slender, and about six feet long. These are the 

 dimensions of the large elephants, and exceed those of the ordinary size by near- 

 ;y one third. 



The mammoth of New York, although bearing some general resemblance to 

 the elephant, differs from it in the general figure j in the tusks, formation of the 

 head, prominence and pointedness of the back over the shoulders, its great de- 

 scent thence to the hips, together with the comparative smallness of the body j 

 there are proofs of greater activity also in the structure of the thigh bones, and 

 ;he formation of the ribs; which arc peculiar, and indicative of greater strength. 

 It also differs in the magnitude of the spines of the back ; the proportionate, 

 length of the processes from the spine of the scapula { the thickness and strength 

 of all the bones, particularly of the limbs ; the teeth, which are of the carnivo- 

 rous kind ; its under jaw, which is distinctly angular, instead of being semicircu- 

 lar, as in the elephant, beside several other striking distinctions. There can be 

 little doubt but that it is, therefore, at least, specifically distinct from the ele- 

 phant. Philosophical Magazine, PcaZe's account, vol. 14. 



The examination of the asiatic mammoth has also settled the question-as to 

 its identity with the araerican. They are considered as specifically, if not 

 generically, different. 



JJlumenbach has termed the asiatic mammoth elephas primaevus,Jor primogenus, 

 ami! the amerknii mammoth the elepha? amcricmiu?. drier calls it the 



