Professor Buckland on the Bones of Mastodon, Ssc.from Ava. 379 



in Asia, there being no remains of these animals in the collection now 

 before us; we have bones and teeth of the Pachydermata which are usually 

 associated with them in Europe, America, and Siberia; viz. of rhinoceros, 

 hippopotamus, mastodon, tapir, and hog- ; also several species of Ruminantia, 

 resembling oxen, antelopes or deer ; with the addition of the gavial and 

 alligator, and species of the two genera of freshwater tortoises, viz. Trionyx 

 and Emys. 



The occurrence of such reptiles in the same deposits with the Mammalia, 

 has, I believe, not yet been noticed in the diluvium of Europe, America, or 

 Northern Asia; and it deserves remark, that the gavial, and several of the Pachy- 

 dermata found by Mr. Crawfurd, do not now inhabit the Burmese Country ; for 

 the gavial is now limited almost exclusively to the waters of the Ganges and its 

 confluents ; the hippopotamus exists no where but in the rivers and lakes of 

 Africa ; and the mastodon is utterly extinct. There is, however, no greater 

 anomaly in supposing that all these animals inhabited the Burmese Country at 

 the period preceding the deluge which overwhelmed it, than that at the period 

 preceding the similar catastrophe which befel the North of Europe, the ele- 

 phant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and hyjena were co-inhabitants of England, — 

 a point which in another work* I have endeavoured to establish from the evi- 

 dence of the bones found at Kirkdale and in other caverns. 



Judging from the number and proportion of bones in the collection made 

 by Mr. Crawfurd, the most abundant fossil animal in the valley of the Irawadi 

 is the mastodon, then the crocodile and tortoise, and lastly the rhinoceros and 

 deer. Of the hippopotamus, parts only of two jaws have been yet identified ; 

 and of the tapir and hog, one fragment only of a lower jaw. It is not however 

 possible to deduce any certain conclusions as to the relative abundance of 

 these animals, from the proportion of bones in any single collection. 



The following may be given as a rude approximation to the numerical pro- 

 portion of bones and fragments of bones we have now before us. 



No. of bones. No. of bones. 



Ox, Deer and Antelope. 20 



Gavial and Alligator . . 50 



Emys 20 



Trionyx , , . . 10 



Mastodon 130 



Rhinoceros .......... 10 



Hippopotamus 2 



Tapir 1 



Hog 1 



At the head of this list stand the remains of the genus Mastodon, not only 

 because they so much exceed in number the aggregate of all the rest, but 



* Reliquiae Diluvianse. 

 3 D 2 



