62 FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 



refrigeration of the earth, or a slow variation, whether from the 

 inclination or position of the axis of the globe, falls to the 

 ground of itself. 



Lastly, had the present elephants of India been the descend- 

 ants of the fossil refugees in their present climate, at the period 

 of the catastrophe which destroyed the others, how shall we ac- 

 count for the destruction of their species in America? The 

 elevated parts of Mexico offered them a secure escape from 

 such an inundation as we have mentioned, and the climate is 

 hotter than necessary for their temperament. Nor can we sup- 

 pose that the same cause which extinguished the mastodon, 

 the hippopotamus, and the fossil rhinoceros, would have spared 

 the elephant. That those animals have ceased to exist can no 

 longer be a subject of controversy. 



The Genus Mastodon. 



The Great Mastodon is one of the most remarkable and 

 apparently the most enormous of all the fossil species. What- 

 ever doubts might have existed concerning the specific differ- 

 ence of the elephas primigenius, and its utter extinction, there 

 could be little controversy of this nature concerning the mas- 

 todon, after its remains had been properly examined. Accord- 

 ingly, we find that this was the first fossil animal by whose re- 

 mains naturalists were convinced of the possibility of extinct 

 species. The monstrous bulk of the molars, and the formidable 

 tuberosities with which they are provided, could not fail of 

 attracting attention ; and it was easy to observe that none of 

 the larger quadrupeds with which we are acquainted, possessed 

 teeth of similar conformation or equal volume. Daubenton, 

 indeed, for a time was disposed to believe that some of these 

 teeth might have belonged to the hippopotamus, but he soon 

 renounced this error ; and. Buffon declared that this ancient 

 species, the first and largest of all terrestrial animals, must be 

 regarded as now extinct. Still he restricted this observation to 

 the enormous hinder teeth, considering the middle and half- worn 



