THE MAMMOTH 95 
creatures which were in existence during the early 
days of primitive man. I refer to the Woolly Rhi- 
noceros and the Mammoth, which flourished at the 
same time as the Irish deer and Cave-bear, both of 
which are also extinct. Both the Woolly Rhinoceros 
and the Mammoth had shaggy coats, enabling them 
to endure a cold climate. They roamed in quest of 
food all over Europe and across Britain, which in 
their day was still connected by land with the 
Continent. When towards the end of the Ice Age 
the ice gradually withdrew northwards, these animals 
followed the retreating ice, and travelled as far 
north as Northern Siberia, where Mammoths have 
been found beautifully preserved, flesh, wool and all, 
in blocks of ice. The scientific name of the Mam- 
moth is Hlephas primigenius, which means that it 
was an early kind of elephant ; it is said that it was 
a close relation of the existing Indian elephant. 
Doubtless primitive men had some very exciting 
times in hunting this huge and powerful beast. 
Mammoth remains have been found in Britain and 
various parts of Europe, and also in North America, 
Asia, and Africa. 
In following this little account of some fossil 
remains of animals, I hope you have noticed that 
some of the simplest and lowliest of creatures are 
represented in the oldest rocks, and that as we 
ascend the formations from the oldest to the most 
recent we find evidences of a gradual increase in the 
variety of animal life, as well as of more perfect and 
complicated life-forms. In ascending the formations 
we also ascend the scale of creation. In the older 
