CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 11. PACHYDERM AT A. 635 



SKELETON OF A MASTODON. 



and a multitude of other animals of various species, which have now ceased to exist. In the 

 United States the bones of an animal resembling the mammoth, but in some aspects different, 

 have been discovered in various places, mostly in alluvial deposits, and near the salt-licks of the 

 Western States. This species has received the name of Mastodon, Mastodon maximus. Several 

 skeletons of this, more or less perfect, exist in the United States. One of the largest and most 

 complete was found in 1845 near Newburg, Orange County, New York, and belonged to the late 

 Dr. John Warren, of Boston. The remains of about a dozen other extinct species of Mastodon 

 have been discovered. 



THE EHINOCERID^E. 



The animals of this family are covered with a hard, naked, rough skin, in some cases laid i-n 

 large folds, seeming like huge bucklers. The head is elongated and triangular, and from the 

 upper surface of the muzzle there springs a single or double horn, composed of a solid mass of 

 horny fibers resembling whalebone, supported upon a broad, bonv protuberance of the nose. These 

 horns, which are powerful weapons of defense, and which are also sometimes used to tear away 

 tangled branches and obstructions, are of considerable size, measuring frequently two feet and a 

 half in length, and sometimes much more. They are of an elongated, conical form, and arc usu- 

 ally more or less curved backward; but in the British Museum there are two horns which are 

 evidently curved in the opposite direction, and probably belonged to a species of which nothing 

 further is at present known. The same collection contains another horn, which is more slender 

 than usual, and curved backward almost in a semicircle, which probably was a mere peculiarity 

 of one individual. When two horns are present, they are placed one behind the other, and the 

 hinder one is much shorter than the anterior. Only two sorts- of teeth, incisors and molars, are 

 found in the jaws, and of these the former sometimes fall out- before the animal is full-grown. 

 The canines are entirelv wanting. The molars are usually seven in number on each side of each 

 jaw; their surface exhibits projecting lunate ridges. The body is very bulky, and is supported 

 upon short, strong legs; the feet have three toes, which arc only indicated externally by the 

 hoofs. The eyes are small ; the ears small, pointed, and nearly erect ; the thick and hard skin 



