278 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Sept. 14, 1888. 



slender fibres, which evidently answer the purpose of a 

 brush. 



Many birds possess a varying number of small spines 

 near the base of the tongue, always set in such a manner 

 that the points are directed down the throat. Probably 

 these aid in some degree in the operation of swallowing, 

 and are analogous to the double row of teeth which we 

 find upon the palates of the non-venomous serpents, and 

 which bear so very important a share in the task of 

 deglutition. In the duck, however, and also in some of 

 its near relatives, these spines are considerably extended 

 in their range, the last inch or so cf the tongue itself 

 being fringed with delicate bristles, while on either side 

 of the organ are five sharp spines of some little size, the 

 intervening spaces being again occupied by a row of 

 slender bristles. Finally, upon the upper surface of the 

 tongue are two small bony projections, which seem to 

 correspond with four spines situated opposite to them 

 upon the upper jaw. This rather complicated structure 

 appears, in concert with the corrugated margins of the 

 beak itself, to assist in the filtration of the mud, etc., 

 from which these birds extract so large a proportion of 

 their food. 



In the parrots, as already stated, the tongue, which 

 now assumes the form of a thick, fleshy organ, fulfils the 

 duties of a thumb, the upper mandible, to which it can 

 be opposed, in like manner serving as a finger. Probably 

 most of us are acquainted with the facility with which a 

 parrot turns and twists a nut, a large seed, or any similar 

 article of diet ; and it is to the character of the tongue, 

 also, that these birds owe their singular powers of ar- 

 ticulation. On the other hand, there are many birds, 

 and among them some of the largest, in which that 

 member is scarcely developed at all. In the ostrich, for 

 example, it is little more than an inch in length, and 

 there is some difference of opinion among ornithologists 

 as to whether, in this particular instance, it is actually 

 the tongue itself or only the epiglottis. And there are 

 a great number of birds in which it is more rudimentary 

 still, and which, for all practical purposes, are without 

 tongues at all. 



ON THE GIGANTIC DIMENSIONS OF 

 CERTAIN FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 



M ALBERT GAUDRY, in a memoir read before 

 • the Paris Academy of Sciences, states that he 

 has just received from M. Strauch, the Director of the 

 Museum of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, 

 some photographs of the celebrated mammoth of that 

 collection. 



The mammoth (Ekp/ias primigenius) of the St. Peters- 

 burg Museum is that whose entire body was found, in 

 1799, upon the shore of the Icy Ocean, near the mouth 

 of the Lena. As seven years had intervened between its 

 discovery and its arrival at St. Petersburg, a part of its 

 flesh had been devoured by dogs and other ferocious 

 beasts, and the greater portion of the remainder had 

 been detached from the bones, as it rendered the convey- 

 ance too difficult. The photograph shows that the skin 

 and the flesh have only been preserved on the head and 

 around the feet. 



According to Tilesius, the skeleton is n ft. 2\ in. in 

 height from the top of the head to the sole of the feet. 

 It is not so large as the skeleton of Elephas meridionalis 

 from the pliocene of Durfort, which is in the new gallery 

 of the Paris Museum. The Durfort skeleton is 12-Jft. i_i 



height at the withers, and 13 ft. 10 in. to the top of the 

 head. In length it is 21 ft. 8 in. from the ends of the 

 tusks to the posterior margin of the pelvis, and 17 ft. 5 in. 

 from the front of the head (not including the tusks) to the 

 hinder margin of the pelvis. These dimensions are very 

 superior to those of our skeleton of the mastodon from 

 Sanram, and surpass even those of the gigantic American- 

 mastodons. The Durfort skeleton is the largest entire 

 mammalian skeleton known at present. 



We have separate bones which must have belonged to 

 still mightier beasts. Thus M. Haussmann, when Prefect 

 of the Seine, presented to the Museum a humerus of 

 Elephas antiquns, found quite near Paris, in the quaternary 

 of Montreuil-sous-Bois ; this bone measures 50 in., whilst 

 that of the Elephas meridionalis of Durfort measures only 

 48 in. M. Gandry brought from Pikermi a tibia of a Dino- 

 therium, which is to that of the Durfort elephant as 94 to 

 80, and the metacarpal bones present quite as great a 

 difference. 



If the proportions between the tibia, the humerus, the 

 metacarpals, and the total height of the skeletons have 

 been the same in Elephas antiquns and in Dinotherium 

 giganteum as in the Elephas meridionalis of Durfort, we 

 must suppose that Elephas antiquns reached the height of 

 14^ ft. to the top of the head, whilst the Dinotherium was 

 no less than i6| ft. in height. Thus three tall men standing 

 on each other's shoulders would scarcely reach the top 

 of the head of the Dinotherium giganteum of Pikermi. 



It is natural to find the maximum of stature in the 

 Dinotherium, for this majestic creature reigned along 

 with two species of mastodons, an ancylotherium, a 

 giraffe, and a helladotherium, at the epoch of the upper 

 miocene — the culminating point of the animal world. 

 The Elephas meridionalis and the Elephas antiquus lived 

 along with hippopotami in the hot stages of the pliocene 

 and the quaternary, when there must have been a rich 

 vegetation. If anything may astonish us, it is that the 

 mammoth of the glacial lands of Siberia, dwelling in 

 regions too cold to have a forest vegetation, should attain 

 the great stature of the St. Petersburg skeleton. 



The mightiest mammalia may thus be classed in order 

 of magnitude : — 



1st. Dinotherium giganteum, from the Upper Miocene 

 of Attica. 



2nd. Elephas antiquus, of the Quaternary (hot phase) 

 of the neighbourhood of Paris. 



3rd. Elephas medionalis, of the Upper Pliocene of 

 Durfort (Gard). 



4th. Mastodon Americanus, of the Quaternary of the 

 United States. 



5th. Elephas primigenius, of the Quaternary of Siberia,, 

 and the present elephants. 



It is not probable that man has seen the Dinotherium, 

 but it is certain that he has been face to face with Elephas. 

 antiquus and the mammoth. To combat them he had 

 only flint weapons, and yet he conquered them. This 

 enables us to believe that our forefathers of the qua- 

 ternary were not lacking in intelligence and courage, 

 although it is also possible that some o these gigantic 

 creatures were conquered not by man but by climatic 

 changes. 



Length of Human Endurance under Water. — 

 According to the recent investigations of M. Lacassagne, 

 the longest time that a diver can remain under water is 

 four minutes. 



