EXTINCT WHALES AND WOMBATS 295 
extinct whale, known as Zeuglodon cetoides,^ and so called from 
the yoke-like form of its douhle-fanged molar teeth, which are six 
inches in length. It has also been found in Mississippi, Georgia, 
South Carolina, and Egypt. No strata of later date than the 
Eocene period contain its remains, as far as we know ; and it 
has never been found out of the Northern Hemisphere. Zeuglodon 
must certainly have been a very remarkable creature, and it is 
to be hoped that palaeontologists will some day meet with a 
complete skeleton, such as may afford the material for showing 
its entire bony structure. Unfortunately, although a great many 
finds have been made in Alabama, no complete skeleton has yet 
been got together. The remains of at least forty individuals 
have been met with, so that we may venture to say that this 
ancient cetacean once flourished vigorously. So numerous are 
the vertebrae in the above-mentioned locality that it is said they 
are used for making fences, and that farmers even burn the 
bones in order to get rid of them ! How little they know that 
hundreds of museum curators all over the world would be only 
too glad to procure some of this “ rubbish ” ! With the spread 
of education, and an increasing desire to learn a little about the 
former history of our world, let us hope that in time agriculturists 
will endeavour to co-operate with men of science in rescuing 
from destruction the fossilised remains of the earth’s former 
inhabitants. 
Sir E. Owen declared the Zeuglodon to have been one of the 
most extraordinary of the Mammalia which the revolutions of 
the globe have blotted out of the number of existing beings.” 
Some of the vertebree found in Alabama have a length of eighteen 
inches, and a diameter of twelve inches, while the whole of the 
backbone, or vertebral column, has been found undisturbed. 
^ Greek — zeugle^ yoke ; odous, odontos^ tooth. 
