Miscellaneous. 137 



The researches made in France have shown the truth of this 

 opinion ; but Professor Brandt makes the following observations on 

 the figures of the Mammoth described by MM. Lartet and Vibraye. 

 The figure on a plate of ivory described by the former evidently 

 represents the anterior half of an elephant; and it is quite clear that, 

 by means of the lines observed on the neck, shoulders, and flank, 

 the artist has tried to indicate long hairs, which might be regarded 

 as representing parts of a mane. The direction of the tusks reminds 

 one vividly of the Mammoth ; but it must be remarked, with regard 

 to the mane, that neither the form nor the density of this has yet 

 been sufficiently demonstrated by naturalists. Adams accepted the 

 notion of a mane, without having seen it, from the testimony of his 

 companions and the presence of long hairs ; and Tilesius does not 

 oppose this conclusion. But the merchant BoltunofF, who saw the 

 Mammoth three years before the arrival of Adams, and in a much 

 better state of preservation, says nothing about a mane. Nevertheless 

 two pieces of the skin of the nape, still attached to the cranium of 

 the Mammoth at St. Petersburg, show a considerable quantity of 

 the basal portions of rigid hairs, which were evidently rather long, 

 and may at least be taken for traces of the existence of a mane. 

 Perhaps, however, the artist of Perigord had a better opportunity of 

 recognizing the mane than the Russian naturalists. 



The representation of an elephant in reindeer's horn, described by 

 M. Vibraye, seems to resemble the Indian elephant, at least as re- 

 gards the anterior part of the head. The ear is rather close to the 

 eye ; it is oblong and comparatively very narrow. All these charac- 

 ters, especially the small size of the ear, remind us of the Mammoth. 

 — Ann. des Sc. Nat. ser. 5. tome v. pp. 280-282. 



Note on the Discovery of the Dermal Shield in Meg ather old Animals. 

 By Prof. Reinhardt. 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, — I send you for insertion in the 'Annals' an ex- 

 tract from a letter received from Professor Reinhardt, of Copenhagen, 

 and remain Yours obediently, 



British Museum, A. GiJNTHER. 



July 23, 1866. 



"May I also draw your attention to the fact that this 'discovery' 

 of a dermal shield in Megatheroid animals was made as much as 

 twenty years ago, and that Lund, in his last work on the extinct 

 Mammalian Fauna of Brazil, expressly states that he found a kind 

 of dermal shield in two different genera, Scelidotherium and Coelo- 

 don, gives a very detailed description of them, and even draws the at 

 that time justifiable and natural conclusion that probably all Mega- 

 theroid animals were furnished with a more or less similar shield. 

 The shield was not so perfectly developed in Scelidotherium and 

 Coelodon as Burmeister has found it to be in Mylodon ; but that is 

 of small importance (see ' Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes 

 Selskabs Afhandlinger,' Kjobenhavn, 1846, 12 Deel, p. 77)." 



Ann. 6f Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol. xviii. 10 



