MASTODON ANGUSTIDENS. 



21 



Mammalia, contained in the 47th number of the 'Quart. 

 Journ. Geol. Soc.,' published in August of the present year 

 (1857), he reiterates the opinion that Mastodon angustidens 

 and Mastodon longirostris are synonyms of the English Crag 

 species. Any opinion emanating from so distinguished a 

 palaeontologist as Professor Owen, and repeated by him after 

 mature study, at various intervals, between 1843 and 1856, 

 must necessarily carry great weight with it. The first point, 

 therefore, to determine is, what is the species to which Cuvier's 

 name of M. angustidens is legitimately applicable ? 



Mastodon angustidens. — The fluviatile or lacustrine Mo- 

 lasse of the basin of the Sub-Pyrenees has from a very remote 

 time been worked, at Simorre, by mines for what was called 

 the ' Turquoise de nouvelle Roche,' this substance being the 

 ivory of Mastodon-tusks chiefly, highly injected with a metallic 

 infiltration, so as to simulate the natural mineral Turquoise. l 

 The excavations brought to light the numerous Miocene re- 

 mains found in this rich depot, and among others the molars 

 of Mastodon. These were vaguely referred to by the old 

 naturalists under the name of the ' Animal de Simorre.' 2 

 Some of them found their way, in the progress of time, to 

 the Museum of Natural History in Paris, about the middle 

 of the last century ; and Daubenton described them under the 

 title of ' petrified teeth having relations to those of Hippopo- 

 tamus,' to which indeed, in some important respects, they bear 

 a very striking analogy. Cuvier, having established his 

 'grand Mastodonte ' of North America, next directed his 

 attention to the European remains of the genus, the first of 

 which he published under the title of ' Mastodonte a dents 

 etroites,' or M. angustidens. It has been proved upon the 

 clearest evidence, by various palaeontologists, and admitted, 

 among others, by his devoted friend and follower Laurillard, 3 

 that Cuvier has included more than one species under this 

 nominal designation of M. angustidens. It is requisite, there- 

 fore, to ascertain precisely what were the original types which 

 suggested a name of such palpable signification to a shrewd 

 and philosophical observer like Cuvier. On referring to his 

 original memoir, it will be found that Cuvier commences, 4 

 as his first illustration, with a description of one of the 

 Simorre molars previously described by Daubenton. The 

 second piece is the Dax specimen from near Sort, Departe- 

 ment des Landes, and obtained from a fluvio-marine Molasse 



1 Reaumur, ' Mem. de l'Acad. des 

 Sciences,' 1715, p. 174; and Lartet, 

 ' Quelques Apercus Geologiques dans le 

 Departement du Gers,' p. 19. 



2 Id. op. fit. p. 24. 



3 Dietionnaire Universel d'Histoire 

 Naturelle, torn. viii. pp. 29, 30. 



4 Annales du Museum, torn. viii. 

 p. 412. 



