INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



215 



gether with its range of habitat along a stretch of nearly 20° 

 of longitude in the regions bordering the Gulf of Mexico. 



In my second memoir, on the same subject, communicated 

 to the Geological Society on June 17, 1857, I entered into 

 further details on the fossil Elephant of the Gulf of Mexico, 

 adding that it was found in the fossil state along with spe- 

 cies of Mastodon, Mylodon, Megatherium, Equus, &C. 1 An 

 epitome of the paper, with these statements, is given in 

 Leonhard and Bronn's ' Jahrbuch' for 1858, p. 379 ; and the 

 name E. Golumbi is adopted by M. Lartet in his important 

 memoir, ' Sur la dentition des proboscidiens fossiles,' 2 showing 

 that my determination of the species had not escaped the 

 observation of continental palaeontologists. 



After the communication of the memoirs above referred to, 

 in which, I believe, the first attempt was made to determine, 

 with precision, the nature of the fossil Elephant of the Gulf 

 of Mexico, I became acquainted with Mr. Bollaert's speci- 

 men of an adult lower molar of the same species of fossil 

 Elephant, from the Brazos River in Texas, when it found its 

 way into the British Museum ; and the ground having beeu 

 thus broken, the attention of palaeontologists was speedily 

 attracted to the subject. 



In September of the following year (1858), Professor 

 Owen, in his address to the British Association at Leeds, 

 while discoursing on the geographical distribution of ani- 

 mals, made these remarks : — ' Geology tells us that at least 

 two species of Elephant formerly did derive their subsistence, 

 along with the megatheroid beasts, from that abundant 

 source,' {i.e. the luxuriant vegetation of tropical America). 

 ' Nay, more ; at least two other kinds of Elephant, Mastodon 

 Ohioticus and Elephas texianus, existed in the warm and 

 temperate parts of North America.' 2 On this occasion, Pro- 

 fessor Owen gives no authority for the name E. texia.nus, 

 although then announced for the first time, thus by the 

 established usage in Zoology, producing it as his own. 3 But 

 in the second edition of ' Palaeontology,' published three 

 years later (1861), in referring to the occurrence of the Mam- 

 moth in North America, he adds, ' where it existed not only 



1 Seep. 211.— [Ed.] 



2 ' Trois autres proboscidians ont vecu 

 dans l'Amerique du Nord pendant la 

 periode post-pliocene ou quaternaire ; ce 

 sont 1' Elephas Amcricanus que M. Leidy 

 considere comme etant distinct de VE. r pri- 

 migenius \ YE. Columbi, Falc, des Etats 

 du Sud et du Mexique, et le Mastodon 

 Ohioticus que quelques auteurs sup- 

 poscnt avoir ete contemporain des pre- 

 miers hommes qui se sont etablis dans 

 cette region du globe.' — Bullet. SociH. 



Gcol. de France, 1859. 2° Serie, torn, 

 xvi. p. 505. 



2 Report Brit. Assoc. Leeds, 1858, 

 Address, p. lxxxiv. 



3 In the Leeds Address, Professor 

 Owen is so scrupulously careful on the 

 score of citation, that he gives in a 

 foot-note the names of the gentlemen to 

 whom we are indebted for having col- 

 lected the Purbeck Mammalia. (Address, 

 p. lxxxix.) 



