176 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS, 



ftrength of the Elephant, combined with the fiercenefs 

 and rapacity of the Tiger ! 



We cannot clofe our account of the Elephant, with- 

 out taking forae notice of the teeth of that animal, which 

 have been fo frequently found in a foffil ftate in various 

 parts of the world. Some years ago, two great grinding- 

 teeth, and part of the tulk of an Elephant, were difco- 

 vered, at the depth of forty-two yards, in a lead mine, 

 in Flintfhire, lying in a bed of gravel: The grinders 

 were almoft as perfect as if they had been juft taken 

 from the living animal ; the tufk was much decayed, and 

 very foft. — Near the banks of many rivers in Siberia, 

 large tufks and teeth have been frequently dug up, which 

 were formerly attributed to a creature called the Mam- 

 mouth ; but they are now universally believed to have be- 

 longed to the Elephant. The molares or grinders are 

 perfectly the fame with thofe of the prefent race ; but 

 both they and the tufks are much larger : Some of the 

 latter have been known to weigh four hundred pounds ; 

 and grinders, of the weight of twenty-four pounds, have 

 not unfrequently been difcovered. One of thefe was 

 taken from a fkeleton of the fame head in which the 

 tulks were found: And as the ivory of the latter was 

 in every refpe£r, the fame as that generally known, and 

 made ufe of for the purpofes of ufeful and ornamental 

 works, we cannot deny our alTent to the opinion of thofe 

 who fuppofe them to have been once parts of the animal 

 we have juft defcribed- — Tufks of a prodigious fize, 

 teeth, jaw-bones, thigh-bones, and vertebra, have like- 

 wife been frequently found on the banks of the river 

 Ohio, in America, five or fix feet beneath the furface.— 

 Some of the tufks are near feven feet long; one foot 

 nine inches in circumference at the bafe, and one foot 



