194 



ON ZOOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, AND THE 



feet, of its enormous elk, one of the most celebrated of all the fossil rumina- 

 ting animals. The Mediterranean coast, Russia, and both Americas have 

 amply contributed to the collection. But it is to the limestone quarries 

 of ^ningen and Geylenreuth, and the alternating quarries of Paris, that it is 

 chiefly indebted for its very interesting supply of the animal remains of a for- 

 mer world. 



We have not time to travel even over an outline of this wonderful reposi- 

 tory. Those who have no opportunity of examining it on the spot, may be 

 abundantly gratified by a perusal of M. Cuvier's valuable and extensive 

 work on the fossil remains of quadrupeds :* which, though chiefly devoted to 

 this particular class, is nevertheless rich in its history of extinct kinds and 

 species of birds, amphibials, and fishes. We can only glance at a few of the 

 more striking of the whole collection. 



These are to be found chiefly in the class of mammals, and especially 

 among the largest kinds. The gypsum-formation of Paris, supposed to be 

 a fresh water deposite, has furnished M. Cuvier with two entirely original ge- 

 nera, and eacji genus with several species, the whole of which appear to be 

 utterly extinct. 



To these he has given the name of palasotherium and anoplotherium, or 

 OLDEN BEAST, in allusiou to its existence in the olden times ; and defenceless 

 BEAST, in allusion to the want of canine teeth in the genus it designates. 

 Both genera belong to the Linna^an order of BELLUie or warrior-beasts, and 

 the Cuverian order of pachydermata, or thick-skinned. 



The station of the first is allotted in this order after the tapir, and before 

 the rhinoceros and the horse, which gives us the best idea of its general cha- 

 racter. It is generically distinguished by having forty-four teeth ; in each 

 jaw six fore-teeth, two incisors, fourteen molars: snout extended, flexible; 

 fore and hind feet quadrifid. 



The gypsum quarries alone have furnished five distinct species of this very 

 singular animal, in a more or less perfect state of its skeleton. 1. Palasothe- 

 rium magnum, of the size of the horse, 2. P. mediurn; and, 3. P. crassvm^ 

 each of the size of a hog. 4. P. curtum, with decurtate, patulous feet. 5. P. 

 ininus, of the size of a r?heep. Besides which, five other species have been 

 discovered in otlier parts of France, imbedded in fresh-water limestone, or in 

 alluvial soil ; one of them, P. giganteum, as large as the rhinoceros ; and an- 

 other, P. tapiroides, of the size of an ox. 



The second species, or anoplotherium, is somewhat smaller, and has its 

 station assigned between the rhinoceros or the horse on the one hand, and the 

 hippopotamus, hog, and camel on the other. It has forty-four teeth in a con- 

 tinuous series ; being in each jaw six fore-teeth ; two incisors, not longer 

 than the fore-teeth; fourteen molars; fore and hind feet bifid, with distinct 

 metacarpal and metatarsal bones ; and accessary digits in a few. This genus 

 also offers four species, varying from the size of the horse or ass to that 

 of the leopard or elegant gazelle. 



There is also another genus of entirely extinct quadrupeds, belonging to 

 the same order, and of still larger magnitude, which M. Cuvier has been able 

 to constitute from remains found in diff'erent parts of the world, to which he 

 has given the name of mastodon. It makes a near approach to the elephant, 

 and in one or two of its species vies with it in size. The ascertained species 

 are five ; the largest of which, called the great mastodon, has been found in 

 considerable abundance near the river Ohio; and specimens of whose skeletons 

 have been brought to our own country, and exhibited under the name of mam- 

 moth, which, however, is an error; as mammoth is a Russian term, ap- 

 plied to a fossil species of genuine elephant, w^hich vve shall notice presently. 

 But the mastodon has in America been confounded with the mammoth. 

 Both have been dug up in the alluvial soil of Siberia. Of the other species, 

 two have been discovered by M. Humboldt in America alone ; one both in 

 America and at Simorre in Europe ; and one both in Saxony and Monta- 



* See also Mr. Kerr's translation of M. Cuvier's Essay on the Theory of the Earth, with Professor Jame> 

 0on*s Notes. Svu.— Edin. 



