46 FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 



at the base of those little clay-hills which fill the intervals of the 

 calcareous chains ; that in the strata containing them is found 

 petrified and bitumenized wood, which M. Dolomieu supposes 

 to be oak, and that this again is covered by strata of marine 

 shells, mixed with arundinaceous plants, and by immense banks 

 of argillaceous earth. 



The north of Italy does not abound less in elephantine re- 

 mains. Without, however, descending to particulars, we may 

 remark that the same observations which we have made above, 

 relative to the locale of the others, are equally applicable to 

 these. 



There are several relations in authors of the bones of giants 

 disinterred in Sicily, which may, for the most part, be referred 

 to elephantine remains. 



From the wretched state of oppression and confusion in 

 which Greece has so long been, we can expect no rational ac- 

 count of her fossil remains. Still, however, that elephantine 

 bones were among the number may be reasonably concluded, 

 from the many accounts we meet with in both ancient and 

 modern writers, concerning the bones of giants discovered 

 both on the continent and in the islands of Greece. 



Similar stories are related of Spain. But it is certain that 

 there are some remains of the fossil elephant in the royal ca- 

 binet at Madrid. In all parts of France, these bones have 

 been discovered in the greatest abundance. We know, how- 

 ever, from historical testimony, that comparatively very few of 

 these animals were carried into that country. The only in- 

 stances of this kind that we read of are, when Hannibal passed 

 through the southern provinces, and when Domitius ^Eno- 

 barbus marched against the Allobroges and the Arverni. 

 Some of these remains have been found at a depth of eighteen 

 feet in the marly and argillaceous strata near Paris. 



The fossil elephants of the Belgic have long been known 

 and described. The absurd notions concerning the bones of 

 giants, were combated by the learned Van Gorp, as early as 



