CLASS I, MAMMALIA: ORDER 11. PACHYDERM ATA. 
685 
SKELETON OF A MASTODON. 
and a multitude of other animals of various species, wliicli have now ceased to exist. In the 
United States the bones of an animal resembling the mammoth, but in some respects diiferent, 
have been discovered in various places, mostly in alluvial deposits, and near the salt-licks of the 
Western States. This species has received the name of Mastodon, Mastodon maximus. Several 
skeletons of this, more or less perfect, exist in the United States. One of the largest and most 
complete was found in 1845 near Newbiirg, Orange County, New York, and belonged to the late 
Dr. John Warren, of Boston. The remains of about a dozen other extinct species of Mastodon 
have been discovered. 
THE EHINOCEEID^. 
The animals of this family are covered with a hard, naked, rough skin, in some cases laid i-n 
large folds, seeming like huge bucklers. The head is elongated and triangular, and from the 
upper surface of the muzzle there springs a single or double horn, composed of a solid mass of 
horny fibers resembling whalebone, supported upon a broad, bony protuberance of the nose. These 
horns, which are powerful weapons of defense, and which are also sometimes used to tear away 
tangled branches and obstructions, are of considerable size, measuring frequently two feet and a 
half in length, and sometimes much more. They are of an elongated, conical form, and are usu- 
ally more or less curved backward ; but in the British Museum there are two horns which are 
evidently curved in the opposite direction, and probably belonged to a species of which nothing 
further is at present known. The same collection contains another horn, which is more slender 
than usual, and curved backward almost in a semicircle, which probably was a mere peculiarity 
of one individual. When two horns are present, they are placed one behind the other, and the 
hinder one is much shorter than the anterior. Only two sorts of teeth, incisors and molars, are 
found in the jaws, and of these the former sometimes fall out before the animal is full-grown. 
The canines are entirely wanting. The molars are usually seven in number on each side of each 
jaw; their surface exhibits projecting lunate ridges. The body is very bulky, and is supported 
upon short, strong legs; the feet have three toes, which are only indicated externally by the 
hoofs. The eyes are small ; the ears small, pointed, and nearly erect ; the thick and hard skin 
