11 



grinding surface; whereas in this animal the 

 laree teeth have five and six, and the small teeth 

 three and four prongs, very differently arranged 

 from those of the former. 



The elephant, which is a graminivorous ani- 

 mal, is armed with tusks, more properly called 

 by the French defences ; but to me it appears 

 nothing inconsistent with the nature of a carni- 

 vorous animal that it should be furnished with a 

 similar weapon of offence and defence, and in- 

 deed from their form somewhat better calculated 

 to answer those objects ; therefore the number 

 of instances in which these tusks and those car- 

 nivorous teeth were found with bones resem- 

 bling the bones of the elephant, though larger, 

 should have been taken as the strongest pre- 

 sumption that they were the fragments of one 

 animal; which, from its fossil remains (accom- 

 panied with the most terrific and fabulous ac- 

 counts), has been distinguished, both in Russia 

 and America, by the name of Mammoth. 



Mr. Collinson, Member of the Royal Society, 

 in a letter on this subject to M. Buffbn *, after 

 describing the fituation of the salt lick on the 



* BtifFon, Tome XIJI. Notes jastificative. Page 204. 



