378 Professor Buckland on the Bones of Mastodon, ^c. from Ava. 



comparison between the organic remains which might be discovered in the 

 diluvium of tropical countries, and the similar remains found in the diluvium 

 of the temperate and frigid zones of the northern hemisphere : — 



"Another interesting branch of inquiry is, whether any fossil remains of 

 elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and hyajna, exist in the diluvium of tropi- 

 cal climates ; and if they do, whether they agree with the recent species of 

 these genera, or with those extinct species whose remains are dispersed so 

 largely over the temperate and frigid zones of the northern hemisphere." 



It could scarcely have been anticipated, that within so short a period as has 

 elapsed since the date of this publication, the zealous investigations of a 

 single individual should have gone so far as those of Mr. Crawfurd have done, 

 to supply an answer to the questions then proposed. 



The evidence which Mr. Crawfurd has imported, is derived from no less 

 than seven large chests full of fossil wood and fossil bones, and of specimens 

 of the strata that are found along the course of the Irawadi, from its mouth 

 near Rangoon up to Ava, being a distance of nearly five hundred miles. 



The larger portion of the fossil wood is beautifully silicified, and displays 

 most delicately the structure and fibres of the living plants : in other speci- 

 mens of it this structure is more obscure, though sufficient to show that the 

 trees in which it exists were dicotyledonous. This obscurity arises from the 

 fact of most of these dicotyledonous plants being impregnated with carbonate 

 of lime, whilst all the monocotyledonous stems are silicified, as are also a few 

 of the dicotyledonous : in these latter also the vegetable structure is more 

 distinct than in the calcareous fossils, and in some of them it much resembles 

 that of the tamarind wood. These plants were found most abundantly in the 

 same region with the fossil bones, but occur also along nearly the whole 

 course of the Irawadi from Ava to Prome. They were principally collected 

 from a tract of country * extending over a square of more than twenty miles 

 on the east bank of the Irawadi, near the town of Wetmasut, about half-way 

 between Ava and Prome, between lat. £0° and 21". N. The occurrence of 

 bones was most abundant in a small space near the centre of this district, occu- 

 pying about one third of the above-named area, the surface of which is com- 

 posed chiefly of barren sand hills mixed with gravel; beneath these are 

 strata containing shells and lignite, through which they sink wells about two 

 hundred feet to collect petroleum. 



In examining the bones, I have had the advantage of the co-operation 

 of Mr. Clift, to whose anatomical description I beg to refer my readers f. 

 And though we are still without proof as to the existence of fossil elephants 



* See annexed map, Plate XLIV. t And see Plates XXXVI. to XLIII. 



