THEORY OF THE EARTH. 281 



sians (the Elephas primigenius of Blumenbach), 

 which was fifteen or eighteen feet high, and was 

 covered with coarse red wool, and long, stiff, hlack 

 hairs, which formed a inane along its back. Its 

 enormous tusks were implanted in alveolae longer 

 than those of the elephants of the present day ; 

 but in other respects it was pretty similar to the 

 Indian elephant *. It has left thousands of its 

 carcases from Spain to the shores of Siberia, and 

 it has been found in the whole of North Ameri- 

 ca ; so that it had been distributed on both sides 

 of the Atlantic, if, indeed, that ocean had existed 

 in its time, in the place which it occupies at pre- 

 sent. It is well known that its tusks are still so 

 well preserved in cold countries, as to be applied 

 to the same uses as fresh ivory ; and, as we have 

 already remarked, individuals of it have been 

 found with their flesh, skin, and hair, which had 

 remained frozen since the last general catastrophe. 

 The Tartars and Chinese have imagined it to be 

 an animal which lives under ground, and perishes 

 whenever it perceives the light. 



After the mammoth, and almost its equal in 

 size, came also in the countries which form the 

 two presently existing continents, the narrow 

 toothed mastodon, which resembled the elephant, 



* " Researches," vol. i. p. 75, 195 and 335 ; vol. iii. 

 3?1 and 405 ; vol. iv. p. 491. 



