GEOLOGICAL COLLECTION. 2^)1 



gical distribution, they are arranged according to 

 the order adopted by M. Cuvier in his great work 

 on fossil remains, which contains a description 

 and figure of almost every specimen in this 

 collection. 



Beginning with the first case at the side of the 

 door leading into the cabinet of mineralogy, we 

 see the teeth of fossil elephants, named mam- 

 mouths by the Russians, dug up in different parts 

 of the globe, and principally in France. Perhaps 

 the most remarkable for their size are those 

 found in digging the canal of Ourcq, near Paris, 

 and which were given by M. Girard. We ought 

 also to observe those from North America, sent 

 by M. Jefferson, and those from Mexico, presented 

 by M. de Humboldt. The next case contains tusks, 

 portions of jaws, and long bones of fossil ele- 

 phants from different countries. The most asto- 

 nishing specimen amongst them is the part of a 

 tusk which was found near Rome, by the duke de 

 la Rochefoucauld and M. Desmarest, which at 

 first sight we are tempted to take for the trunk 

 of a tree. Some hair with a portion of the skin 

 of the elephant that was found on the ice at the 

 mouth of the river Lena, by M. Adams a is pre- 

 served here as a very interesting specimen of that 

 animal, which at the time it was discovered had 

 still its flesh and skin on. 



