178 



CLIMATE OF THE MAMMOTH 



[Ch. X. 



of the bones of reptiles, even of those of small dimensions, i s 

 very significant, as indicating a former state of the atmosphere 

 and of the waters uncongenial to that class of vertebrata. 



Climate of 



associates. — Geologists 



examined 



the subject with the fullest conviction on their minds that 



dobe in the olden times was warmer than 



climate 



it is now. This opinion they had legitimately derived from 

 the study of the Tertiary and Secondary rocks, and when 

 they encountered the bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, hip- 



inus 



mentioned 



mud 



tion, that as all the genera alluded to are now characteristic of 



warmer 



the received doctrine. The fact that the numerous land and 

 freshwater shells accompanying the same fossils were almost 

 without exception identical with those now inhabiting the 

 same country, ought doubtles: 



many 



ef in a hotter climate ; but the well-known 

 large and conspicuous mammalia made a 

 greater impression on their minds than the diminutive mol- 

 lusca, with which few were familiar. The late Dr. Fleming, 

 however, before the notion had gained ground that a glacial 

 epoch had intervened between tertiary and historical times, 

 called in question, in 1829, the opinion that the bones of the 

 elephant and rhinoceros, and other associated pachyderms 

 and beasts of prey, implied a tropical climate. A near re- 

 semblance, he observed, in form and osteological structure is 

 not always followed in the existing 



ammifer 



a similarity of geographical distribution ; and we must there- 

 fore be on our guard against deciding too confidently, from 



mere 



mor 



The 



zebra,' he remarked, ' delights 



roam 



the tropical 



maintain 



an Iceland winter. The buffalo, like the zebra, prefers a 

 high temperature, and cannot thrive even where the conuno 

 ox prospers. The musk-ox, on the other hand, though near y 





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