150 ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF 



general character, even in the extreme north, and on the banks of our 

 Icy Sea, was similar to that now only presented by the torrid zone ; 

 and yet there was no species exactly similar to those of the present 

 day. 



Amongst these animals, in particular, was the elephant, called by 

 the Russians the mammoth (elephas primigenius of Blumenbach) from 

 fifteen to eighteen feet in height, covered with a coarse red wool, and 

 long black bristly hairs, which formed a mane along its back : its 

 enormous tusks were implanted in alveolae longer than those of the 

 elephants of our times ; otherwise it was very similar to the elephant 

 of India. It has left thousands of its carcases, from Spain to the bor- 

 ders of Siberia, and has been discovered throughout North America ; 

 so that it was spread over the two coasts of the Atlantic ocean, if 

 indeed the ocean was at that time in the place where it now flows. It is 

 well known that its tusks are still so well preserved in cold countries, 

 that they are used for the same purpose as new ivory ; and, as we before 

 remarked, individuals have been found w r ith the flesh, skin, and hair, 

 which had been frozen since the final catastrophe of the globe. The 

 Tartars and Chinese have imagined it to be an animal which lives 

 under ground, and perishes whenever it appears in daylight. 



After it, and nearly equal to it, came also, in the countries forming 

 the two present continents, the narrow-toothed mastodon, which re- 

 sembled the elephant, being armed, like it, with enormous tusks, but 

 these tusks covered with enamel ; lower in the legs, and with grinders 

 mamillated and cased with a thick and shining enamel, which have 

 long supplied what is called the occidental turquoise. 



Its remains, so common in the temperate parts of Europe, are not 

 found so generally in the north ; but we discover them in the moun- 

 tains of South America, with two kindred species. 



North America has an immense quantity of the remains of the great 

 mastodon, a species still larger than the preceding, as tall in proportion 

 as the elephant, with tusks not less enormous, and whose grinders, full 

 of sharp points, have caused it to be taken for a carnivorous animal. 



Its bones were very thick, and had much solidity ; even its hoofs 

 and stomach are said to have been found in good preservation, and easily 

 recognizable. It is asserted that the stomach was filled with the 

 crushed branches of a tree. The savages believe that this race was 

 exterminated by the gods, lest they should destroy the human race. 



"With these enormous pachydermata existed two genera rather less 

 than the rhinoceros and hippopotami. 



The hippopotamus of the period was common enough in the coun- 



