200 R. S. Lull — Evolution of the Elephant. 



seen in the only known skull, now unfortunately lost. Those 

 of the lower jaw were large and, together with the elongated 

 symphysis, bent abruptly downward, the tips being actually 

 recurved. The skeleton, so far as known, indicates a huge 

 elephant-like body and limbs and the impression is that the 

 creature must have been semi-aquatic, frequenting the beds of 

 streams and living upon the succulent herbage which it rooted 

 up by means of its tusks. The contour of the skull is ill 

 known, so that, with the exception of the lower jaw, restora- 

 tions of the head are largely conjectural. Dinotherium died 

 out in the Pliocene, leaving no descendants. 



Pakt III. 

 Migrations of the Proboscidea. 



In studying the dispersal of a group of terrestrial vertebrates 

 one has to consider not alone the probability of land bridges 

 over which the wandering hordes might pass, but, on the other 

 hand, the existence of barriers to migration other than the 

 absence of these bridges. 



The possible barriers are climatic, topographic, and vegeta- 

 tive. Of these the climatic has been given weight, but in the 

 case of the proboscidians the direct action of temperature is 

 relatively unimportant, though the presence of moisture is a 

 prime necessity. 



The African elephant formerly ranged from Cape of Good 

 Hope into Spain, while Elephas primigeniub enjoyed an even 

 greater range in latitude and consequent temperature. The 

 African species has a vertical distribution from sea level to a 

 height of 13,000 feet in the Kilimanjaro region, which also 

 gives a great range of climatic variation. Aridity, however, 

 is a most efficient barrier, not only from its effect upon the 

 food supply, but because water is a prime necessit}' to elephan- 

 tine comfort. The Sahara to-day marks the northernmost 

 limit of the African species, the former distribution to the 

 north being by way of the Nile valley or possibly to the west- 

 ward of the great desert. 



Mountain ranges on the whole do not impede elephant 

 migration, except of course such mighty uplifts as the Hima- 

 layas. The height to which the elephant wanders in the 

 Kilimanjaro has already been mentioned, while Hannibal 

 took a number of African elephants across the Little St. Ber- 

 nard pass, which has an altitude of 7,176 feet, in his invasion 

 of Italy in 218 B. C. The Pyrenees, however, seem to have 

 prevented the numerous elephants of France from invading 

 the adjacent Spanish peninsula, as the few species of fossil 



