ON THE BONES OF THE MASTODON, 357 



In the Museum of the Academy of the Fisiocritici at Sienna, I 

 observed and took a drawing of the fragment of a pelvis found with 

 the jaw described by M. Baidassari, but its characters were not suffi- 

 ciently marked to malce it worth my while to make a drawing of the jaw. 



Of the fragments of M. Chonteau, a bone of the metacarpus alone 

 as perfectly distinguishable. It bears a strong resemblance, in 

 minature, to that of an elephant. 



It would 'appear that the narrow -toothed nmstodon is more fre- 

 (quently to be found accompanied by marine bodies than the great 

 species ef Ohio. Reaumur, indeed, does not mention shells in his 

 description of the turquoise mines of Simorre ; he merely states that 

 the teeth and bones are found on a whitish earth, covered and in- 

 crusted with a fine grey, and sometimes a blueish sand, mixed with. 

 small stones, and that oa this there is another bed resembling river 

 sand. 



The great teeth are accompanied by others smaller, the proportions 

 of which are too inaccurately sketched to allow us to form an exact 

 estimate of the species to which they may belong. Some of them, 

 however, appeared to me to be the anterior teeth, with four denticuli 

 of the same animal, and the others those of the great fossil tapir. 



I cannot account for Reaumur's placing Simorre in Lower Lan- 

 guedoc, in which he has been imitated by all those who have written 

 ■ after him. This little town, at present included in the department of 

 <j!ers, formed part of the county of Estarrac, in Gascony. It is 

 situated on the river Gimont. According to Reaumur, teeth of a 

 similar description are found lower down at Gimont, as well as at 

 Auch, on the river Gars, I know it to be a fact, that in this latter 

 place the teeth of the gigantic tapir were discovered. 



The specimen of M. de Borda is not alTected by a similar uncer- 

 tainty. It was found at Sort, not far from Dax, in the department 

 Des Landes, in a bed most positively formed of marine substances, 

 with the jaws of a species of dol})hin, of which I shall speak hereafter, 

 glossopetiae, and some jaws, which I recognised as proceeding from 

 diodons and tetrodons, when I observed them in the museum of the 

 owner, 



Baidassari does not mention what substances weie found in com- 

 pany with the jaw described by him. He confines himself to stating 

 that it was discovered by the sliding down of a little hillock, and that 

 the neighbouring country abounds in marine productions ; nay more, 

 that the large vertebrae of the cetacese are found on the ridge of Mount 

 Follonico. The tooth of Trevoux was found by M. I^olliere, in the 

 interior of a hillock of sand :. no mention is made of any other fossils 

 which might have been found there likewise. 



With regard to the bones of South America, the old Spanish writers 

 have made them the subjects of numerous marvellous legends. From 

 them they have derived their ideas of the race of giants, who in the 

 early ages inhabited Peru, whose exploits may be seen in the Spanish 

 Gigantology of Torrubia, or in a wOrk of more surpassing excellence, 

 the History of Pedro Cre9a, copied by Garcillasso, book ix. chap. 9. 



Moreover, we meet with notices of these bones of imaginary giants 

 in the works of divers travellers. Lengentil affirms that he saw the 



