ANIMALS OF LONG AGO 361 



the skull of a full-grown Elephant shows a remarkable straightness 

 of face and absence of snout; in fatt the skull shows no sign of a 

 snout. A new-born Elephant's skull, however, shows indications 

 of a snout. Now it is quite usual for young beasts to epitomize the 

 peculiarities of their ancestry, and the young Elephant is no excep- 

 tion in this respect. The indications of a snout exhibited in skulls 

 of new-born Elephants disappear as the animal grows in years and 

 stature, but they are sufficiently marked to connect the race w r ith 

 a long-snouted ancestry. To what extinct animal of elephantine 

 characteristics must we go in order to find the snout which is betrayed 

 in the young of the modern Elephant? The remains of the animal 

 we are looking for have been found amongst deposits of Miocene 

 age in Egypt. They are of Tetrabelodon augustidens a long-jawed 

 Mastodon. This Mastodon resembled the modern Elephant in many 

 important particulars ; it was nearly the same size, but its trunk was 

 somewhat shorter, and it had a long lower jaw armed with two 

 short tusks meeting together; there were two long upper tusks 

 spreading outwards and a snouty prominence was in evidence. But 

 Tetrabelodon was probably the descendant of the Palaeomastodon, 

 a much smaller animal about five feet high. The remains of this 

 beast have been found in the later Eocene beds of Egypt. The skull 

 is some three feet long, the snout is better developed than in Tetra- 

 belodon, but there are signs of a much shorter trunk, which would 

 rest upon the lower jaw, and would not be flexible. The tusks of 

 both jaws are comparatively short, the neck more in evidence. In 

 Egyptian Eocene beds remains of the Mceritherium have been dis- 

 covered, and it is conjectured, with great probability, that this 

 animal, which was small in comparison with our present-day 

 Elephants, being only three feet high at the shoulder, was the 

 original of those creatures. The skull of the Mceritherium indicates 

 an animal the size of a Tapir ; its length is about sixteen inches and 

 the snout is distinctly prominent. The tusks in both jaws are small 

 and the trunk must have been quite short. The leading facts relating 

 to these extinct animals and the chain of development will be better 

 comprehended if the story is presented in tabular form. 



Name. Period. Leading Details. 



Mceritherium Eocene Skull sixteen inches long, short tusks and 



trunk. Prominent snout. 



Palaomastodon Later Eocene Skull three feet long. Longer tusks and 



trunk. Less prominent snout. 



