Sect. I.] Zoblogi/. \5l 



particular notice. M. Cuvier, of France, lias been 

 for some time engaged in a very extensive work 

 on this subject, which is Ukeh' to prove very in- 

 teresting^ to the philosophical workh He eiuune- 

 rates tzvenfii-fhrec species of bones which have been 

 found, all belonging to animals unknown at the 

 present day, and of the existence of which tliere is 

 no other trace than these relics. Of this number 

 txvelve v/ere determined by preceding inquirers, and 

 eleven he considers as bavins: been first discovered 

 and settled by himsdf. He speaks ^Iso of a num- 

 ber of other species, concerning which some un- 

 certainty still remains*. 



Of these fossil bones none have attracted more 

 attention than those belonging to the unknown 

 animal denominated the Mmnmoth'\, fomid in 

 several parts of the world, and especially in North 

 America. A controversy for a long time existed. 



a radical diange. But when he visited, during his travels, the 

 spots where these bones were found, he candidly renounced his 

 former hypothesis, and expressed a full conviction, in conformity 

 with the opinion of many other modern philosophers, tliat they 

 must have been carried thither by water -, and that nothing but a 

 «udden and general irruption of waters, such as the deluge is re- 

 pi«esented to have been, could have transported those bones from 

 their native regions so far to the nortli. In proof of this he in- 

 forms us, that the bones are generally found separate, as if scat- 

 tered by the waves; covered with a stratum of mud; and com- 

 monly intermixed with tlie remains of marine animals and plants. 

 — Coxe's Travels in Itussia. 



^ See Additional Notes — (Y). 



f The name mammoth is said to have been first given to this 

 animal in Russia. It is a cormption from mcmoth, a word deri\cd 

 from tlic Arabic. 



