EVOLUTION OF ELEPHANTS 381 



parts of South America, especially along the western side, 

 from Colombia to Argentina.* So far as is known they are 

 all of Pleistocene or late Pliocene age, and more or less nearly 

 related to the Miocene and Pliocene genera of North America. 

 Mammoths and elephants appear rarely, if ever, to have 

 penetrated into South America; nor apparently did M. ameri- 

 canus ever reach that country. Early discoveries sent to 

 Europe were described under the names of Mastodon hum- 

 holdti and M. andium, and thought to be related to Masto- 

 don, now Trilophodon, angustidens of Europe. Later dis- 

 coveriesf show that there were several different types in 

 South America, but probably all of them may be referred 

 to the genus Dihelodon ( = Stegomastodon) . 



The only species of Elephantidse, remains of which have 

 been found in Uruguay, South America, is the Mastodon 

 Humboldti (Cuvier), bones of which have been discovered 

 at Mercedes in Uruguay, situated on the Rio Negro, about 

 fifteen miles from its entrance into the Rio de la Plata. 

 The mammoth is unknown in South America, but of the 

 species Elephas columbi (Falconer) remains are said to have 

 been found in Colombia, and they also appear in Mexico. J 



There appears to be some evidence that the ivory capping 

 of a mastodon molar was found in 1880 in Mexico, as in 

 that year the Jefe Politico of Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico, 

 showed such an object to Dr. Edward H. Thompson as 

 having been given to him during a recent visit to Vera Cruz. 

 However, no definite information was obtainable as to the 

 exact locality from which the tooth fragment had been 

 brought, so that it was not possible to make a search for 



*Commuiiicated by Dr. W. B. Matthew. 



fFlorentino AmegUno, 1889, " Mamiferos Fosiles de la Republica Argentina," Actas 

 Acad. Nacional "Ciencias" Cordoba, Vol. VI, pp. 632-652. 



JCommunicated by M. A. Lamme, Director of the Instituto de Geologia y Perfora- 

 ciones, Montevideo, Uruguay, S A, 



