256 FOSSIL MASTODON* 



mal of the present creation ; it appears to have been a 

 herbivorous animal ; and the largest species, the great 

 mastodon of Cuvier, was equal in size to the elephant. 

 Five species are described by Cuvier. 



1. Great Mastodon. This species has been hitherto 

 found in greatest abundance in North America, near the 

 river Ohio, and remains of it have been also dug up in 

 Siberia. It has been frequently confounded with the 

 mammoth or fossil elephant, and in North America it is 

 named mammoth. In plate 2d we have given an engrav- 

 ing of one of the grinding teeth of this animal. 



2. Mastodon with narrow Grinders. The fossil remains 

 of this species have been dug up at Simorre and many 

 other places in Europe, and also in America. 



3. Little Mastodon -with small Grinders. This species is 

 much less than the preceding, and was found in Saxony 

 and Montabusard. 



4. Mastodon of the Cordilleras. This species was dis- 

 covered in South America by Humboldt. Its grinders 

 are square, and it appears to have equalled in size the 

 great mastodon. 



5. Humboldien Mastodon. This, which is the smallest 

 species of the genus, was found in America by Hum- 

 boldt. 



All the fossil species of quadrupeds we have just enu- 

 merated have been found in the alluvial soil which covers 

 the bottoms of valleys, or is spread over the surface of 

 plains. All of them are stangers to the climate where 

 these bones now rest. The five species of mastodons 

 alone may be considered as forming a distinct and hither- 

 to unknown genus, nearly allied to that of the elephant. 



