334 



FOSSIL BONES FROM AVA. 



tudes render highly probable, this would not remove the difficulty ; 

 for the fact that entire bodies of elephants have been preserved in ic^ 

 and that their skins were covered with a thick coat of wool and hair, 

 proves that these animals were constituted for living in cold climates, 

 and that their remains have not been transported to any great dis- 

 tance from the countries which they inhabited.* 



The remains of these large quadrupeds occur in different states 

 of preservation. In the frozen regions of the north the ivory of the 

 tusks is perfect. In beds of clay, the bones and teeth are frequently 

 impregnated with mineral matter; but in gravel they are generally 

 in a loose or friable state, or at least they soon become so, after ex- 

 posure to the air. In the Phil. Journal of Edinburgh, January, 

 1828, an account is given of numerous bones of the mastodon, rhi- 

 noceros, and other animals, having been found on the surface of the 

 ground, near Irrawady River, in Ava. These bones, though ex- 

 posed to the atmosphere, are stated to be extremely hard ; they 

 were mixed with silicified wood, in a deposition of sand or grave). . 

 With the remains of the broad-toothed mastodon, were also found 

 teeth of a new species of mastodon of enormous size, which appears 

 to be intermediate in form, between that of the elephant and of the 

 mastodon : it has hence received the name Mastodon elephantoides. 

 Specimens of these teeth are in the museum of the Geological So- 

 ciety of London. 



* A friend has suggested, that the Siberian elephants were probably migratory, 

 and passed the winter months in more temperate latitudes. If this were the ease, 

 individuals that from lameness or disease were unable to travel, may have been 

 incrusted with ice immediately after death. 



