580 



CENOZOIC ERA— AGE OF MAMMALS. 



ermen of the little village of Happesburgh (Woodward). On river-ter- 

 races associated with bones of Quaternary animals have been found also 

 the rude implements of primeval man. We speak of these more par- 

 ticularly hereafter. 



3. Marshes and Bogs. — As might have been anticipated, the re- 

 mains found in these are mainly those of the larger Herbivores — ele- 

 phants, oxen, stags, etc. It is in these that were found most of 

 the fine skeletons of the gigantic Irish elk (Cervus megaceros). 

 This magnificent elk was ten to eleven feet in height to the top of 

 its palmate antlers, and ten to twelve feet between the antler-tips (Fig. 

 947). 



4. Frozen Soils and Ice-Cliffs. — As in these have been found the most 

 perfect specimens of the Mammoth {Elephas pr imigenius), this seems 

 to be the proper place to describe the animal. 



Fig. 948.— Skeleton of the Mammoth (Elephas primigenius). Portions of the integument still adhere 

 to the head, and the thick skin of the soles is still attached to the feet. 



The genus Elephas ranges in time from about the latter part of the 

 Miocene to the present. There are about fifteen fossil species known. 

 The genus seems to have reached its maximum development in the 

 Quaternary. During that period three species inhabited Europe, viz. : 

 E. antiquus, E. meridionalis, E. primigenius (Lyell), besides two 

 dwarf species, E. Melitensis, four and a half feet high, and E. Fal- 

 coneri, three feet high, found in the Quaternary of Malta. Of these, 



