10 ELEPHANTS. 



upper part of a long snout supported by the elongated lower 

 jaw, afterwards as the familiar movable organ so characteristic 

 of the modern elephants. We can also observe the gradual 

 increase in the size and degree of complication of the grinding- 

 teeth, accompanied by the complete loss of many of the teeth 

 found in the earlier forms. Finally, we have materials for 

 discussing the probable relationship of the elephants to some 

 other groups of animals. 



The table on page 11 shows what are the chief forms 

 of Proboscideans living at the different periods and their 

 distribution over the world. It will be seen that the earliest 

 mammal which can be delinitely called a Proboscidean is 

 Moeritherium, a small tapir-like creature from the Upper 

 Eocene beds of the Fayum district of Egypt. This genus 

 existed also in the Lower Oligocene of the same region, but 

 was then accompanied by a larger and much more elephant-like 

 animal, Palaomastodon. At this time Africa was cut off from 

 the rest of the world to the north by a broad and deep sea which 

 extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific by way of Northern 

 India and Southern China, and the separation of Africa pre- 

 vented these early forms of elephant from wandering into other 

 regions till after the Lower Oligocene. After PalfPomas- 

 todon there is a large gap in the series, no fossil Proboscidea 

 having yet been found in the Upper Oligocene, though no doubt 

 their remains will be discovered somewhere in the fresh- water 

 deposits of that age in Egypt. Hitherto no Proboscidean 

 bones and teeth have been met with again till the Miocene, but 

 in rocks of that period they are found abundantly, not only in 

 Egypt, but in Europe, Asia, and North America. It is there- 

 fore clear that during the long lapse of time after the Eocene, 

 the deep sea above referred to must to some extent have been 

 replaced by land, over which the early elephants could spread 

 outwards from their home in Africa. The vast changes in the 

 distribution of land and water that took place in this region 

 will be apparent when it is understood that rocks crowded with 

 the shells that lived at the bottom of this ancient sea are to-day 

 found thousands of feet above sea-level in India and elsewhere. 



From the Miocene period onwards we meet with elephant-like 



