420 



THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



was larger as compared mth the length of the body than m recent ele- 

 phants, a character which stands in close connection with the enormous 

 development of the tusks; these were distinguished by their spiral form, 

 the points directed inward. The ears were very small and covered with 

 hair. The tail was relatively shorter than in the existing elephants and was 

 provided Avith a tassel of long, bristly hair at the end. The color of the 

 hair is a yellowish brown, varymg from light brown to pure bro\vn, and 

 a coat of woolly hair, 2 to 2j cm. in length, covered the whole body. 



Fig. 183. — The hairy mammoth (Elephas primigenius) and Pakeolithic man {Homo neanderta- 

 lensis). After original by Charles R. Knight in the American Museum of Natural History. 



Interspersed with these were a large number of longer and thicker hairs 

 which formed mane-like patches on the cheeks, on the chin, on the shoulders, 

 flanks, abdomen, etc. A broad fringe of this long hair extended along the sides 

 of the body as depicted in the palaeolithic sketches from the Combarelles 

 Cave discovered by Capitan and Breuil in 1901. Especially interesting is 

 the food found in the stomach and mouth, which consists of a meadow flora 

 such as characterizes this region of Siberia at the present day, thus appear- 

 ing to disprove the theory that the climate was milder than that now pre- 

 vailing. Nor does it appear that it was more frigid, because there are few 

 representatives of tundra vegetation. Grasses (Graminece) and sedges 

 {Cyperacece) predominate. There were also wild thyme {Thymus), beans 

 of the wild oxytropis (Oxytropis campestris) , seeds of the alpine poppy 

 (Papaver), and the boreal variety of the upright crowfoot {Ranunculus acer)y 

 all still found in this region. 



