GEOLOGY. 601 



It is in this tertiary epoch that we also discover the 

 bulkiest terrestrial mammals, the Dinotheria, in shape 

 analogous to the elephant, but much larger. 



An animal which has been an object of interest to 

 every one, the great Mastodon, belongs to the same 

 period. It Avas at first called the elephant of Ohio, on 

 account of its shape and the place where it was dis- 

 covered; but afterwards, as its teeth were found to be 

 provided Avith strong projecting elevations, a separate 

 genus was formed for it. 



Although of such vast size the remains of this species 

 are extremely common in Canada and Louisiana. Along 

 the river of the Great Osages are found skeletons almost 



284. The Common Anoplothenwm—AnoplotheHum commune. 



complete. Sometimes mastodons have been exhumed en- 

 tire and standing upright, in places Avhere tliey seem to 

 have been caught alive; some appear to have been so 

 suddenly overtaken hj the alluvial floods that we still find 

 in their stomachs the food which they had just swallowed. 

 The nature of this food has been made out: it consisted 

 of herbs and small branches of trees; and thus science 



