10 ELEPHANTS. 



ways the most remarkable, groups of mammals would soon 

 disappear, just as has happened for instance, in the case of 

 the great ground-sloths of South America, the giant lemurs 

 of Madagascar, and the giant marsupials such as Diprotodon 

 in Australia. 



A more detailed account of the changes that the Proboscidea 

 have passed through will now be given, the following animals 

 being selected for description as representing six of the most 

 important of the successive stages at present known. 



1. Moeritherium lyonsi, Middle and Upper Eocene. 



2. Palaomastodon beadnelli, Upper Eocene. 



3. Tetrabelodon angustidens, Miocene. 



4. ,, lonyirostris, Lower Pliocene. 



5. Stegodon insignis, Pliocene. 



6. Elephas, Pliocene. Pleistocene, and Recent. 



Some reference will also be made to other types, such as 

 Dinotherium and Mastodon. 



Wall- Moeritherium (figs. 5, 7, 8) was an animal about the size of a 

 case 43. l ar g e Newfoundland dog, or of the tapir, which it must have 



Table- m uch resembled in general appearance. It was common in the 

 region that is now known as the Fayum in Lower Egypt, 

 where its fossil remains occur in considerable quantities in 

 the Middle Eocene beds, intermingled with bones of toothed 

 whales (Zeugloduri), sea-cows (Eosireri), marine turtles (Pse- 

 phophorus and Thalassochelys), and snakes (Pterosphenus), as 

 well as skeletons of fishes. From this mixture of land and 

 aquatic animals it may be concluded that Moeritherium lived 

 near the shore, probably in swamps at the mouth of a great 

 river, where the remains of both marine and of drowned land- 

 animals would be mingled and entombed together in the muds 

 and clays, which accumulated in the estuary, and now make up 

 much of the strata found in this locality. In the Upper 

 Eocene beds, overlying those just described, remains of 

 Moeritherium are also found; here, however, there is no inter- 

 mingling of marine animals, but instead we find remains of 

 many remarkable land-mammals, crocodiles, and immense 



