120 Natural History. 



enumerates twenty-three species of bones which 

 have been found, all belongbg to animals un- 

 known at the present day, and of whose exist- 

 ence there is no other trace than these relics. 

 Of this number, twelve were determined by pre- 

 ceding inquirers, and eleven he considers as having 

 been first discovered and settled by himself. Be- 

 sides these, he speaks of a number of other species, 

 concerning which some uncertainty still remains. 



Of these fossil hones none have attracted more 

 attention than those belonging to the unknown 

 animal denominated the Mammoth^'' found in 

 several parts of the world, and especially in North- 

 America. A controversy for a long time existed, 

 whether this animal were a species of elephant or 

 not; and both the affirmative and negative sides of 

 the question were confidently maintained by emi- 

 nent zoologists. It is probable the dispute is now 

 near being terminated, as, in the estimation of 

 good judges, proof little short of demonstrative has 

 appeared, confirming the opinion of those who 

 assign this far-famed animal to the genus Elephasf- 



Soon after the first publications of Linnjeus, 

 Ornithology, or the history of the second class in his 

 system, received considerable improvements from 

 Edwards, an English naturalist, who, though not 

 remarkably distinguished as a systematic writer, 

 became eminent and useful by the accuracy of his 

 descriptions, and the excellence of his drawings. 



s The name mammoth is said to have been first given to this animal in 

 Russia. It is a corruption from ?!iemofh, a word derived from the Arabic. 



a In the year i8oi Mr. C.W. Peale, of Philadelphia, proprietor of 

 the Museum in that city, and who has been for a number of years distin- 

 guished by his taste for inquiries in natural history, succeeded in obtaining 

 two complete skeletons of the mammoth, dug out of marle-pits, in the State 

 of New-ifork. From an inspection of these skeletons it appears that they 

 are the remains of elephants, differing but little, if any more, from either of 

 the two species now known, than these latter do from each other. Mr. 

 Peale is certainly entitled to the thanks of every lover of natural history 

 for his zeal and cxertigas in this research. 



