8 



but they were collected with such eagerness, 

 and forwarded to Europe so hastily, that it 

 shortly became impossible to distinguish one 

 set of bones from another, so as to ascertain 

 their number, proportion, and kind -, parts of 

 the same animal having been scattered over 

 England, France, and Germany, and thus 

 their re-union rendered next to impossible. 

 BufFon *, speaking of one of these thigh-bones 

 brought from the Ohio by the way of Canada, 

 which he describes as being the tenth of an 

 inch shorter than one from Siberia, and yet an 

 inch thicker, says : " This disproportion is so 

 great as hitherto to deceive me with respect to 

 this bone, though it otherwise resembles, both 

 in the external figure and internal structure, 

 the femur of the elephant (he should have 

 said, the femur found in Siberia), mentioned 

 under the number dcdlxxxvii. The dif- 

 ference in thickness, which appeared exces- 

 sive, seemed sufficient to attribute this bon« 

 to another animal which must have been 

 larger than the elephant ^ but as no such 

 animal is known, recourse must be had to the 



* Vol. XI. page 169, No. Mxxxv. Autre Femur d^Elephant. 



