268 
EXTINCT MONSTERS 
and the proboscis greatly increased in size, being left entirely free 
and unsupported. These remarkable changes have been well 
summed up by Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., in the following 
words : — '' They gradually increased in size without essentially 
altering their limbs and body ; but as their legs lengthened and 
their neck shortened, their face and chin gradually became 
elongated to reach the ground for browsing. When this strange 
adaptation had reached its maximum degree, the chin suddenly 
shrivelled, leaving the flexible, toothless face without any support. 
Fig. 104. — Skeleton of Mastodon arvernensis, Pliocene, Europe. 
Thus arose the unique proboscis of the Elephants, which has 
become prehensile by stages which cannot be traced, because soft 
parts are not preserved in ordinary geological formations.’^ 
During the Miocene period there lived a strange kind of 
elephant known as the Dinotherium. No complete skeleton is 
known, but the skull, limb-bones, vertebrae, etc., have been found. 
The skull was discovered at Eppelsheim, in Hesse-Darmstadt, and 
other remains in France, Greece, and Asia Minor, also closely 
allied forms in India, but none in America. We learn from the 
