373 



was found to have its lower edge straiter and thinner than in that of the 

 recent animal ; the projecting part, too, of the spine of the scapula, was 

 extended much further towards the articular termination. 



An atlas figured by Hoffman, and copied by Cuvier ; and which must 

 have belonged to some animal of this genus, was compared with that of 

 the skeleton, and found to be specifically different. A fossil axis (the 

 second vertebra) is also figured by Hollman ; and, like the former ver- 

 tebra, appears, from its proportions, to be a different species from the 

 unicorn rhinoceros. A third cervical vertebra is also figured by Hollman, 

 corresponding with the preceding vertebrae, and, like them, differing in 

 proportions from those of the corresponding bone in the skeleton of the 

 unicorn. 



From various comparisons of the fossil bones with those of the living 

 species, M. Cuvier was able to conclude, that the head of the fossil spe- 

 cies is not only absolutely much larger, but that it is also much larger in 

 proportion to the height of the limbs, and, consequently, that the general 

 form of the animal must have been very different from that of the living 

 species. 



A large quadruped, then, of a species unknown at the present day, is 

 thus found buried, M. Cuvier observes, in numerous parts of Europe 

 and Asia ; and one very remarkable circumstance is, that it has not been 

 brought from afar ; and another, that it has not been by any slow and in- 

 sensible change of the earth, but by some sudden change, that this species 

 has ceased to exist. The whole rhinoceros, found with its flesh and skin, 

 buried in the ice, on the borders of the Wiluji, evidently demonstrates, 

 he thinks, these two propositions. How, he asks, could it have come 

 there from the Indies, or from any other warm country, without falling to 

 pieces? How could it have been preserved, if the ice had not involved 

 it suddenly ; and therefore, how could it have been involved in this man- 

 ner, if the change of climate had been gradual and insensible? 



The discovery of this animal has furnished us with some facts respecting 

 its external structure. None of those protuberances or irregular callo- 



