100 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



THE FOSSIL ELEPHANT. 



Elephas primigenics. 



(CABINET OP THE LYCEUM ) 



MiTCHiLL, Cuv. Theory, N. Y. Ed. figure. 

 Harlan, Ac. Sc. Phil. Vol. 3, p. 65, pi. 5. 



Numerous remains of the Fossil Elephant, belonging apparently to the species primigenius, 

 have been found in various parts of North America, from the frozen mud near Behring's 

 Straits, to the marshes of Carolina and Texas. 



The multitude no less than the magnitude of these bones in certain localities, is well calcu- 

 lated to excite astonishment. Hedenstrom, in his survey of the Laechow islands on the north- 

 eastern coast of Siberia, remarks that the first of these islands is little more than one mass of 

 these bones ; and that although the Siberian traders have been in the habit of bringing over 

 large cargoes of them for upwards of sixty years, yet there appears to be no sensible diminu- 

 tion. The teeth (tusks?) found in these islands arc much whiter and more fresh than those of 

 the continent. The most valuable were met with on a low sand bank on the western coast ; 

 and there, when, after a long prevalence of easterly winds, the sea recedes, a fresh supply is 

 always found. From this, Hedenstrom infers that large quantities must exist at the bottom of 

 the ocean. 



One of the most singular discoveries in modern times, was that of an extinct elephant 

 imbedded in a mass of ice on the northern coast of Siberia. Its body was nearly entire, and 

 covered with thick fur, consisting of coarse hair from ten to fifteen inches long, and beneath 

 this a slightly curled wool. Specimens of this hair may be seen in the Cabinet of the Lyceum 

 of Natural History, New-York. 



Fischer has analysed and distinguished six fossil species of Elephants ; and Dr. Harlan 

 appears to think it probable that two distinct species once existed in the United States, but 

 the peculiar characteristics of each do not seem to be distinctly defined. According to Cuvier, 

 the fossil elephants belonged to a geological period more ancient than the Mastodon, but we 

 often find them associated together in the same formation. It is true that little more than the 

 molars only have been discovered, thereby seeming to indicate that all the other bones had 

 perished at a period long anterior to the destruction of the Mastodon. We should, however, 

 recollect that the osteology of the two genera are very intimately allied ; and that from the fact 

 that greater numbers of teeth of the Mastodon have been found, all the large bones are, 

 without due examination, hastily referred to that genus. Besides the molars of the Elephant, 

 few of the other portions of the skeleton have been identified. At Bigbone Lick, where 

 their remains as individuals appear to be in proportion to the Mastodon as one to five, little 

 more than the bones of the head, and in one instance two nearly complete heads, have been 

 identified. Moreover, it does not appear ever to have been as numerous a species as the 

 Mastodon. 



