270 ORDER VII. 



AVith the exception of the fossil species of the 

 north, their skin was, and is rough, and with little 

 fur ; their molar teeth are composed of vertical 

 laminae, alternately of bony and of enamel substances. 

 They have five toes to all their feet, huge defensive 

 tusks, and a proboscis of great length and admirable 

 structure. See Volume Fifth, ut supra. 



Among these, the lost genus, 



MASTODON, chiefly distinguished by the crowns 

 of the molars, consisting of numerous high cones, 

 wearing down in various discs with age. The spe- 

 cies Mastodon giganteum, or Great Mastodon, is 

 well known by the enormous skeletons brought from 

 America and exhibited in Europe. Three or four 

 other species have left their debris in Asia, Europe, 

 and South America. 



The elephants, properly so called, furnish two 

 well determined existing species ; that of India, 



Elephas Indicus, with middle sized ears, often 

 with small tusks, and only four nails on the hind 

 feet,* and 



E. Africanus, with very large ears, large tusks, 

 and often with only three nails on the hind feet. 



Fossil elephant bones are also abundant in the 

 tertiary strata of both continents, and from the north 

 Polar Regions to the southern extremities of Asia, 

 Africa, and probably of America : they are very 

 numerous in all the stages of growth in European 



* By this is meant the Ceylonese, for the Indian Elephant 

 of the Saul forests, has a larger head, higher hind quarters, 

 and sometimes five toes on the hind feet. 



