58 FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 



between the tusks, and prolonged into a kind of pointed apo- 

 physis. But as these alveoli are much longer in the fossil 

 heads^ the jaw must have been truncated in front, otherwise it 

 could not close. These observations have been confirmed by 

 an immense number of well-authenticated specimens. In the 

 bones of the spine the differences remarked are not important. 

 But the specimens examined are but few. 



The bones of the extremities are generally distinguished by 

 greater massiveness. There are other differences, such as the 

 lower head of the femur being distinguished by a slope be- 

 tween the two condyles, gradually reduced to a narrow line, 

 instead of a wide sinking, as in the two living species. But to 

 follow them minutely would tire our readers^ and prove inter- 

 esting only to the professed anatomist . 



From what is known of the soft parts, we find that the skin 

 resembles that of the living elephant, but without the brown 

 points remarkable in the Indian species. Mr. Adams tells us 

 that all of the skin which he had preserved was of a dark grey. 

 The hair may be said to be of three kinds : the longest 

 from twelve to fifteen inches, brown colour, and of the substance 

 of horse-hair ; a shorter kind, from nine to ten inches, more 

 delicate, and of a fawn colour, and the wool, which garnished 

 the roots of the long hairs, four or five inches long, tolerably 

 fine and smooth, though a little frizzled towards the root — it 

 was of a clear fawn colour. 



No animal has similar hairs, and therefore there can be no 

 fraud in the case. It cannot, then, be doubted that the fossil 

 elephant, such as it is found in Siberia, was an animal calculated, 

 from the nature of its covering, to endure the temperature of 

 northern climates. 



The soles of the feet were found to be rounded, but consi- 

 derably dilated, as if by the weight of the body^ so as to ex. 

 tend beyond the edge of the foot. 



We shall now conclude with a recapitulary view of the sub- 

 ject, and a few general reflections. 



