MASTODONS. 73 



the sandstone of Bolligen. A species of Tapirus (T. helveticus, 

 Meyer) lived at Hohe-Rhonen ; and this animal has also been 

 met with at Aarwangen and Kapfnach ; so that it is distributed 

 through all the stages of the Swiss Miocene. To these must 

 be added the genus Listriodon (L. splendens, Meyer, from La 

 ( 1 haux-de-Fonds), which closely approaches the tapirs; but its 

 head was probably not furnished with a trunk. 



The largest animals of the Swiss Miocene are the Mastodons 

 and the Dinotheria. Of the former whole skeletons have been 

 dug out of the ground in some countries ; so that a complete 

 knowledge has been obtained of the structure of these colossal 

 animals. They were the precursors of the elephants, and very 

 nearly allied to them ; they were of the same size, had the same 

 formation of skull and great projecting tusks ; but they differ in 

 the dentition, as follows: The young animals were provided 

 with tusk-like incisors in the lower as well as in the upper jaw; 

 and the grinding-surface of the molar teeth had numerous 

 strongly projecting conical tubercles (mamillce} arranged in 

 rows, whence, indeed, is derived the name Mastodon (' ( mamil- 

 lated tooth ") . These teeth were thus fitted for crushing the 

 hard and woody parts of plants. Switzerland possessed two 

 species of this genus, which is now extinct. In one of them 

 (Mastodon tapiroides, Cuv., M. turicensis, Schinz) the tubercles 

 of the molar teeth stand in regular transverse rows, and form 

 very prominent transverse ridges separated by deep furrows in 

 which there are no tubercles; in the other (M. angustidens, 

 Cuv., Falc.) the conical tubercles are narrower, and there are 

 tubercles in the transverse furrows. The latter is the most 

 abundant species. It begins to appear as early as the third 

 stage of the Miocene, having been found, according to J. Schill, 

 in the marine " Calcaire grossier " of the Lindenbiihl on the 

 Randen. In the Miocene of the Helvetian stage it has been 

 observed at many places (on the Buchberg and the Tour de la 

 Moliere) ; but it appears more frequently in the most recent 

 Miocene deposits of Switzerland. The finest specimens have 

 been collected in these beds, as well as in the lignites of Kapf- 

 nach and the sandstone of Veltheim. Besides five molar teeth, 

 the Zurich Museum has received from Kapfnach the tusks of 

 this species ; they are 1 T \ foot in length, and but slightly curved 



