OF CREATION. 301 



termined ; but there seems no doubt that the latter 

 genus, as it was more widely spread in space, had 

 also an extended range in time ; and, as we have 

 already had occasion to notice, it seems to have 

 connected the middle with the newer series of de- 

 posits, possibly reaching down almost to the human 

 period, and certainly in the latter part of its course 

 being accompanied by species which are now exist- 

 ing, both of the larger pachyderms, and also of the 

 smaller animals of various kinds. 



It was conjectured by Cuvier that the mastodons 

 were more aquatic in their habits, and were better 

 adapted for swamps and marshes, than the elephants 

 are known to be ; but this the form and structure 

 of their teeth renders improbable, and they most 

 probably fed on tough vegetable food, such as the 

 branches of those trees common in the temperate 

 zone, and even on harder and coarser substances than 

 those which the teeth of the elephant are enabled to 

 grind to pulp. 



Widely as the Mastodon was once diffused over the 

 earth, and its remains are met with in the tropics 

 and in both temperate zones, and have been found in 

 America up to the 66th degree of north latitude, 

 we still have no difficulty in fixing upon its metropo- 

 lis, since in the north temperate zone, in the western 

 hemisphere, these remains are found to outnumber 

 those of all other large quadrupeds, and bear to the 

 bones of elephants the proportion of five to one. The 

 magnificent and complete skeleton of a Mastodon 

 from the banks of the Missouri, now in the British 

 Museum, is an instance of the condition of preser- 

 vation in which organic remains of extinct species 



