582 



CENOZOIC ERA— AGE OF MAMMALS. 



one as big as a bear; a gigantic stag ( Cervus Americanus), fully as large 

 as the Irish elk ; tapirs, peccaries, and a large number of Edentates, an 

 order now mostly confined to South America, to which belong the sloths 

 and armadillos. Many of these were also of gigantic size. Carnivores 

 were not so abundant as in Europe. The most remarkable were a lion 

 {Fells atrox), as large as the European, and two species of bear ( Ursus 

 pristinus and amplidens). 



Bone-Caves. — Oaves are found in limestone regions in America as 

 elsewhere, but they do not seem to have been to the same extent the 

 dens of Carnivores. In a vertical opening in limestone strata in Penn- 

 sylvania, a kind of cave, mammalian remains have been found belong- 

 ing to thirty-four species, among which were six Edentates, eight Un- 

 gulates, and twelve Rodents. A number have also been found in the 

 caves of Virginia, and a few in those of Illinois (Cope). 



Marshes and Bogs. — Most of the remains of large Herbivores have 

 been found in marshes and bogs. In the Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, 

 the remains of one hundred mastodons and twenty elephants are said 

 to have been dug up. Many very perfect skeletons of the great masto- 

 don have been obtained from marshes in New York, New Jersey, In- 

 diana, and Missouri. One magnificent specimen was found in a marsh 

 near Newburg, New York, with its legs bent under the body and the head 



Fig. 949.— Mastodon Americanus (after Owen). 



thrown up, evidently in the very position in which it mired. The teeth 

 were still filled with the half-chewed remnants of its food, which con- 

 sisted of twigs of spruce, fir, and other trees ; and within the ribs, in 



