XII 



THE MASTODON 



" ... who shall place 

 A limit to the giant's unchained strength?" 



The name mastodon is given to a number of species 

 of fossil elephants differing from the true elephants, of 

 which the mammoth is an example, in the structure of 

 the teeth. In the mastodons the crown, or grinding face 

 of the tooth, is formed by more or less regular A-shaped 

 cross ridges, covered with enamel, while in the elephants 

 the enamel takes the form of narrow, pocket-shaped 

 plates, set upright in the body of the tooth. More- 

 over, in the mastodons the roots of the teeth are long 

 prongs, while in the elephants the roots are small and 

 irregular. A glance at the cuts will show these distinc- 

 tions better than they can be explained by words. Back 

 in the past, however, we meet, as we should if there is 

 any truth in the theory of evolution, with elephants 

 having an intermediate pattern of teeth. 



There is usually, or at least often, another point of 

 difference between elephants and mastodons, for many 

 of the latter not only had tusks in the upper, but in the 

 lower jaw, and these are never found in any of the true 

 elephants. The lower tusks are longer and larger in the 

 earlier species of mastodon than in those of more recent 

 age and in the latest species, the common American 

 mastodon, the little lower tusks were usually shed early 

 in life. These afford some hints of the relationships of 

 the mastodon; for in Europe are found remains of a 

 huge beast well called Dinotherium, or terrible animal, 

 which possessed lower tusks only, and these, instead of 

 sticking out from the jaw are bent directly downwards. 

 No perfect skull of this creature has yet been found, but 



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