II^TRODUCTION. 
1 
• ' 'J' 
GEOLOGICAL EEYELATIONS. 
Ilowerer vast and varied may be the vicAV sug-gested 
to the mind by a glance at the animal kinorlom, as it 
exists at the present day, there is still something beyond 
even this. Geology has revealed to us the startling fact 
that immense numbers of animals, of species entirely dis- 
tinct fi'om those of which Ave are to give an account, 
have once flourished upon the earth ; and, having ful- 
filled their destiny, liave ceased to exist, leaving no trace 
of their history, except their vestiges in the soils and 
rocks Avhich constitute the crust of the o'lobe. Of these 
extinct animals, there were Avhole races, some of strange 
and "uncouth forms, some of enormous magnitude, some 
resembling the existing types, and others Avhich have left 
no living representatives upon the earth. 
In our oAvn country, the bones of an enormous animal, 
resembling the elephant, have frequently been found, to 
which the name of mastodon has been given. In the 
mountains of India have been found the bones of an ani- 
mal larger than the rhinoceros, having four horns and a 
proboscis. On this has been bestowed the name oidvatlie- 
rium. In the pampas of South America, scattered over an 
extent oi six hundred miles, have been discovered the remains of an animal of the dimensions of an 
elej)hant, yet combining the peculiarities of the sloth and the ant-eater. This extraordinary creature 
has been called the inegatherium. The clinotherium, A\ hose bones have been met with in France and 
Germany, was larger even than the mastodon, and formed a striking resemblance to the tapir. 
