ELEPHANT AND MASTODON. 



43 



III. ON THE FOSSIL SPECIES OF ELEPHANT AND 

 MASTODON FOUND IN THE SEWALIK HILLS.^ 



§ 1. Gknt!iiai RemakKs. 



The fossil remains of the Proboscidean Pachydermata have 

 in aU ages attracted more attention, both, from the learned 

 and from the unlearned, than perhaps those of any other 

 family of extract animals. Until a comparatively late period 

 in Europe, and at the present time in all countries where the 

 light of anatomy cannot be brought to bear in solving the 

 mystery of their indications, the enormous bones of this 

 tribe, when disinterred from the earth, have been regarded 

 as demonstrative evidence of the former existence of Titans, 

 Giants, and other fabulous beings handed down to us in the 

 records of superstition and mythology. Like the Greeks and 

 Eomans of old, the people of India even now usually refer 

 such remains to the BaJcshas or Titans, who hold so prominent 

 a place in the ancient writings of that country. The severe 

 investigations of modern science have expelled these fictions 



1 This memoir comprises the only 

 portion of the letterpress of the Fauna 

 Antiqua Sivalensis which ever appeared 

 (in 1846). A continuation of the letter- 

 press found in manuscript among Dr. 

 Falconer's papers is now added to the 

 part already published. The work was 

 prefaced by the following remarks: — 

 ' The plan which we have laid down for 

 our guidance in the conduct of this work 

 is, in the first place, to determine the 

 remains of the extinct genera and spe- 

 cies, and, on the conclusion of the sys- 

 tematic and descriptive details, to inves- 

 tigate the general results to which they 

 lead. The advantages of this method 

 are so obvious that it is unnecessary to 

 insist upon them ; for general conclu- 

 sions in science are of little value, if the 

 facts upon which they are founded be 

 not in the first instance rigidly and accu- 



rately ascertained. The order to be 

 observed in describing the different fami- 

 lies will depend more on the state of 

 preparation and convenience of tlie ma- 

 terials than upon any strict principle of 

 zoological arrangement. This, which 

 might be deemed objectionable in a 

 general systematic work, is of little con- 

 sequence in the case of a particular 

 Fossil Fauna, provided that the forms in 

 each family and genus are taken in 

 sequence. The great palseontological 

 work of Cuvier opens with the Pachy- 

 dermata, the proboscidea being the first 

 in the order of description. Following 

 our illustrious guide in extinct zoology, 

 we shall commence vrith the Elephant 

 group, in which is most signally dis- 

 played the numerical richness of forms 

 which characterizes the Fossil Fauna of 

 India.'— [Ed.] 



